We are now gaining a better understanding of the effects that it is having on the euro area economies: in a nutshell, the euro is significantly helping to bring euro area economies closer together. We are now ranking higher in terms of the Optimum Currency Area criteria. Cast your mind back to the end of 1996, two years before the euro was launched.
You might remember what the common wisdom was on this side of the channel at the time … What would one have thought if somebody had said: look, in ten years’ time the President of the ECB will come and tell you that on the 1 January 2007, a 13th country will enter the euro area; that the euro area will have a total population of 315 million people; that the euro is a credible currency which has kept inflation in line with its definition of price stability; and that the anchoring of inflation expectations fully reflects this credibility.