Overoptimistic expectations about future growth prospects and short-sightedness, weak domestic institutions and real and financial frictions should have made a strong case for policy intervention aimed at mitigating the boom-bust pattern of monetary integration.
Those who are forward-looking must be innovative and implement reform. Direction, enthusiasm and reform: these are the kind of prospects that can drive the EU and the euro area forward. That is why it is important for us to meet here to discuss them. And not a moment too soon. After all, we have been through some turbulent times.