*  *  *  Introduction The subject which the organisers have chosen for this conference, namely “Competition in Europe Europe facing international competition” is not only very topical, but also very challenging.
While my presentation today will not focus directly on these issues, I will address them both in my discussion of economic differentials within the euro area and in my concluding remarks. My main message today is that Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) is beneficial to all of the individual countries which comprise the euro area.