Via contagion, these difficulties have affected other countries in EMU. Strengthening the rules to prevent unsound policies is therefore an urgent priority. It is the means to allow all countries to reap the full benefits of the single currency. And it prohibits individual countries from pursuing policies that harm themselves and the euro area as a whole.
For this reason, I have called, in the name of the Governing Council, on the Commission, the Council and the European Parliament to be very ambitious in reinforcing economic governance in the euro area.