I will therefore take a closer look at this German experience trying to draw some conclusions for those countries that have lost competitiveness since the launch of the euro. 2  Euro – what have we gained?
I personally see this market discipline as a sound incentive to pursue the right policies. As such, one could consider the international use of the euro as one yardstick among others against which to measure the appropriateness and credibility of public policies conducted in the euro area. I should like to concentrate on these policy aspects in the first part of my presentation.