Ladies and Gentlemen, After tough times and difficult decisions, Europe was able to overcome the rock-bottom of the debt crisis by the end of 2012. During the euro area recovery since 2013, over 10 million net new jobs have been created. Unemployment has fallen from its peak of over 12 per cent to below 8 per cent.
And although loans granted between domestic MFIs still account for more than 50% of the total EU MFI loans, the respective euro area cross-border activity has increased from only 15% at the end of 1997 to around 23% at present.