As I said, Europe in general and the euro area in particular has become the centre of attention of the financial markets. This is not so because of the average condition of the European economy: indeed, judging by several objective criteria, Europe is not worse off economically than the other comparable economic areas.
In 2011, the public deficit of the euro area should be around 4.5% of GDP, while in the United States or Japan it will be about 10% of GDP. As we know, the accumulated government debt is much lower in the euro area than in Japan, and of the same order of magnitude as in the U.S. Moreover, the currency is solid.