Consumption should pick up along with the improvement in jobs and income, though a gradual increase in the saving rate would be expected now that households will no longer be counting on increases in the value of their homes to finance retirement or other future spending.
For this reason it is fundamentally important that national interests be overcome in favour of a single European policy and that the cooperation between Member States on a common foreign and security policy and internal security policy be reinforced. 4  BIS Review 23/2002  I therefore, welcome the EU’s special constitutional convention.