Concluding remarks  Fifteen years after the setting up of the ECB, we need to press on with the ongoing relaunch of the institutional underpinning to put the euro on a sounder footing.
Italy’s situation Between 2008 and 2009, with the global crisis in full swing, Italy’s budget deficit rose from 2.7 to 5.4 per cent of GDP; discretionary policies did not contribute to the increase.2 The deficit of the euro area as a whole more than tripled, rising to 6.3 per cent.