Given the severe economic difficulties that Ireland and a number of other economies in the euro area have been experiencing in the last few years, these issues have been prominent in the public debate. Since it is difficult to reduce fiscal imbalances quickly, it is clear that pubic debts will remain large for the foreseeable future.
The successes of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) With the introduction of the euro, a completely new monetary policy framework was introduced in Europe, with the ECB conducting a single monetary policy for the entire euro area.