The ports of the old Hanse-cities Bremen, Hamburg, Lübeck, Rostock, Wismar and Tallinn all lie within the euro area – but so too do Helsinki, Rotterdam, Antwerp, Bordeaux, Cadiz, Porto, Marseilles, Genoa and Venice – to name but a few. The European single market is a vast economy. The euro area itself is a truly continental economy.
The population of 331 million exceeds slightly that of the United States, and in geographical terms Lisbon and Helsinki are almost as distant as Los Angeles and New York. Interestingly, the European Union as a whole and, in particular, the euro area are significantly more open in terms of trade and finance.