Thereafter, I will describe how the right sequence of steps after June 2012, when the banking union project was first agreed, has put the euro area back on a trajectory towards recovery. The first step was ‘rebooting’ the financial system, which is a necessary condition of a sustained recovery, not least because it helps monetary policy to manage aggregate demand.
But it is not a sufficient condition: policies of structural reform that lift the level of potential growth are an equally important part of the recovery strategy. In describing this strategy, I am not only talking about the past, but also about the present and the future. The crisis is not over.