Indeed, when reviewing the magnitude of the disturbances in the external environment as they appeared at the time, the likely outcome of 2% for euro area growth in 1999 as a whole is not bad at all.
Hence, in order to enhance the process of real convergence as much as possible, accession countries should ensure that they make progress in the restructuring of their economies and gradually align them with those of the euro area. Real convergence is often interpreted as a catching-up in real income with the EU.