Today, I would first like to discuss the role of the capital markets and the advantages of possessing deep and liquid capital markets. Secondly, I will turn my attention to the effects on capital markets that we have already seen since the introduction of the euro, and the process of further integration in capital markets that is expected to continue in the future.
The emphasis of this discussion will be on the euro area bond markets. Thirdly, I will focus my attention on the important issue of how these developments which are expected to take place are likely to shape financing in the European capital markets and in particular how they might affect financing through the euro area bond markets.