I should like to emphasise that the true benefits of EMU derive from the unique opportunity to shape a macroeconomic environment conducive to stability, growth and employment, and to foster structural change which is needed to maintain medium to long-term dynamism in the European economies.
The full benefits of the single currency will arise only if there is appropriate support from other stability-oriented policies, especially fiscal and labour market policies, and if structural reforms are carried out in these areas. Thus, price stability is a necessary, but not a sufficient condition for grasping all the opportunities of EMU.