At the same time, these positive developments should not lead to complacency as crucial challenges remain in an environment of low trend growth and still high debt levels in a number of euro area countries. To address these challenges we need to continue to make progress at national and European levels.
At the national level, the reform momentum needs to be maintained while at the European level, further steps need to be taken to complete the institutional architecture. Let me start by reviewing a few facts on the euro area recovery and on the adjustment process during the past years.