One thing we have learned from other common currency areas with autonomous fiscal policies – like Switzerland or even Germany – is the need for effective fiscal rules. Experience in Germany shows that fiscal rules that are not implemented strictly enough are unable to prevent excessive indebtedness of at least some of the German federal states.
In this context, State Secretary Weyland from the German federal state of Hesse will, during the course of this symposium, shed some more light on certain aspects of the financial relations within the German federal system.