The outlook for EMU during challenging times  Mr President, honourable members of the European Parliament, An economic recovery is in progress, but this does not mean that the crisis is over. For one thing, we know that the pace of recovery will be uneven and we cannot rule out setbacks.
For another, we are still facing numerous challenges regarding the reform of our financial system. Finance must play a constructive role, and not a destructive one, in our economies. The litmus test for a constructive role is that finance serves the real economy. To ensure such a role, we still need to improve the functioning of financial systems considerably further.