This is an important accomplishment for Europe as a whole, as it proves that it is possible to make an adjustment in a single currency context.
The topic will be introduced by professor Barry Eichengreen of the University of California at Berkeley, and we are also very lucky to have three very special discussants, each of whom has an excellent vantage point over the global shifts that we are talking about: Masaaki Shirakawa (Bank of Japan), Sergey Ignatiev (Bank of Russia) and Miguel Fernández Ordóñez (Bank of Spain).