The effectiveness of these enhancements to the governance framework will in part be determined by the quality and independence of the economic analysis that underpins them. Without reliable statistical data, interpreted and acted on by independent arbiters, we cannot be certain that the governance framework will provide the quantum leap forward that is necessary.
It is therefore extremely important that the Commission services charged with conducting macroeconomic and fiscal surveillance for the euro area be sufficiently independent, ideally supported by a body of “wise persons” providing external assessments. We are now at a stage where we need to remain bold and enact those reforms that we envisaged when the crisis was at its deepest.