We are today – thanks to the work of Ludwig Erhard – confronted with exciting challenges and a unique historical development. The creation of the euro area is an exceptional endeavour, now comprising 13 countries, with the entry of Slovenia, and 318 million people.
I remember many critical voices anticipating a failure and claiming that it would be impossible to share a single monetary policy and a single currency. Let me be clear from the very beginning: while there are still formidable challenges and we should not be complacent, Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) has been a great success.