What is very important is that a bird’s eye view of the euro area gives elements that are rather encouraging and which are often not perceived: the euro area as a whole is less indebted and far less in deficit on a yearly basis than the US and Japan.
Our current account is balanced, and our growth has been rather encouraging since the recovery started in the third quarter of 2009. As regards growth and job creation, compared with the US we have more or less the same growth per capita and we created more jobs since 1999. But this is no time for complacency in any respect.