It’s topical because in a few weeks the Commission will publish its legislative proposals and Mr Van Rompuy will present in one month the report of the Task Force to the European Council. It’s highly relevant since the recent developments have demonstrated the urgent necessity of improving the economic governance and stability framework of the Union, in particular in the euro area.
What is more – disregarding the most recent countries to join the euro area – dispersion both ahead of the crisis and during the crisis was very similar in the euro area and the United States. At the same time, it is worth noting that both currency areas include regions with persistently above or below average growth of unit labour costs.