And I’m particularly pleased to speak to you about the first experiences gained of the Banking Union, which is the most important step in the European integration since the introduction of euro. The recent crises have made it very clear that international, highly interconnected financial markets require a stronger institutional framework than what we have had in recent years.
Securities analysts' expectations for long-term earnings growth, an assumed proxy for investors' expectations, were revised up significantly over the second half of the 1990s and into 2000.1 Over that same period, risk spreads on corporate bonds rose markedly on net, implying a rising probability of default. Default, of course, is generally associated with negative earnings.