*  *  *  It’s a pleasure for me to be here at the invitation of the Council on Foreign Relations to share with you my views particularly on structural reforms in the Euro Area. Economic performance of the euro area Let me start with a brief assessment of the euro area’s economic performance by recalling a few facts.
Over the last years the euro area witnessed an improvement in the utilisation of labour, which increased on average by 0.2% per year between 2000 and 2004.