The action taken by Malaysia recently to reintroduce exchange controls on international capital movements and the de facto default by Russia in its inability to redeem its public debt eroded almost overnight the value of what was regarded as secure collateral in terms of normal banking practices.
In this context, benchmarking on the basis of sensibly defined quantitative indicators, taking account of national circumstances, would be a useful tool and a welcome driver for public discussion. Moreover, this would raise public awareness of the fact that successful implementation of structural reforms is indeed possible in EU Member States and would show that structural reforms lead to important benefits.