Let me tell you, however, that the euro area has recently seen many changes and innovations that go in the right direction. And I am pleased to be able to tell you that many of these changes are directly, or indirectly, related to the euro. Let us have a closer look at three areas of change: financial markets, product markets and labour markets.
Financial markets The first area I want to discuss are financial markets. There is ample evidence that financial markets have some way to go before national demarcation lines will effectively disappear. Henceforth, there is still a significant potential for further financial market integration in the euro area.