This deadlock must be broken and the conditions must be created to allow for steps to be taken in the future that appear impossible today. Against this background, I would like to share some reflections with you, first, on how sovereign and banking risks are being dealt with in Europe, and second, on the state of play of fiscal and capital markets unions.
At the time, probably nobody could have guessed that economic integration would advance through various phases and over such a long period. But the Single European Act followed in 1986 and the “Single Market Programme” in 1992. In short, the Single Market is now becoming a reality. Work on the remaining imperfections of the Single Market is also advancing.