The 2005 tax reform is expected to raise the deficit to 1.8% in 2005. However, Austria’s most recent Stability Program sets the target of reaching a balanced budget as well as a debt ratio of below 60% of GDP by 2008. The stability of the banking sector strengthened further in 2004 and the first quarter of 2005.
In that sense, it is clear that monetary policy in the euro area is helped by further steps to move to a more complete economic and monetary union. And speaking about European institutions: imagine what maps Sir Francis Drake, Vasco da Gama and Columbus could have drawn when we would have cooperated.