The remaining interest rate differentials reflect differences in the degree of credit risk in individual countries as well as in the liquidity of specific instruments. With regard to banking services, business with major corporate customers has likewise become very well integrated.
Key to this success, in my view, has been the monetary framework of our currency union. It rests on two cornerstones – the mandate and the independence of the Eurosystem, which is made up of the European Central Bank and the national central banks of those EU countries that adopted the euro as their currency.