Furthermore, it is necessary to create a social security system for which the state-owned enterprises have hitherto been responsible as well as a framework for a market-oriented fiscal and monetary policy. V In Europe the process of structural reforms has to continue. Europe has problems. The most pressing problems include high unemployment, a lack of economic flexibility and an ageing population.
The continuing dramatic decline in house prices and rising rates of foreclosure raised serious concerns about the values of mortgage-related assets, and thus about large potential losses at financial institutions. More broadly, investors remained distrustful of virtually all forms of private credit, especially structured credit products and other complex or opaque instruments.