 Today I will focus on the factors behind weak investment and productivity, on the remaining barriers to competition and on the importance of deepening Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) and completing the capital markets union (CMU) to enhance the attractiveness of the euro area.
Let me start by looking at why investment has been so weak in Europe in recent years, despite historically low levels of financing costs.  Anaemic business investment dynamics[1] have been observed in many advanced economies, but especially in the euro area, Italy being a case in point.