ZARAGOZA, Spain (MNI) - The withdrawal of liquidity measures implemented by the European Central Bank to deal with the financial crisis has not been surprising markets, ECB Executive Board member Jose Manuel Gonzalez Paramo said here Monday.

Briefing the press before speaking at a conference here, Paramo said that risks to price stability remain balanced and interest rates are currently appropriate.

He said it was "very interesting to observe" that markets had already anticipated the ECB's actions. "We are thus doing the withdrawal of liquiditiy measures in, I think, a gradual and timely manner and without surprising markets."

Monetary policy per se naturally continues to be seen "as a function of the risks to price stability," Paramo said. "At the moment we think that the interest rates are appropriate because" while there are both upside and downside risks, overall they are balanced.

Paramo predicted "a rate of inflation slightly superior to 1% for this year and a rate that approaches 2% at the end of the coming year"

In other comments, Paramo said that "when a country enters the euro it has committed itself...to observing common rules."

However, he observed that because of the "protective shield" of the euro, some countries have not been forced to accelerate structural reforms.

Paramo firmly urged "much better" coordination of economic and fiscal policy.