His plans include a common European budget, a European finance minister and a common deposit insurance scheme for European banks. Can you understand that the German government is resisting many of these plans? I think one of the reasons for hesitation on the part of many European governments is that the euro area is currently going through a phase of very robust economic growth.
And ladies and gentlemen, I hope you will find the discussions here at today’s symposium inspiring. This is the right time to hand over to the first panel of today’s symposium. The title of the first panel is “The European Monetary Union: Deficits and Cures”. Harold James, the floor is yours. 6  BIS central bankers’ speeches