Before the launch of the euro, some experts feared that a single monetary policy would not suit a group of countries that were still diverse. But, after nearly a decade, the euro area has proved to be a success. The degree of synchronisation of business cycles across euro area countries has grown since the 1990s and remains high.
There is evidence of a stronger common euro area cycle that accounts for a large part of the business cycle fluctuations. a. Furthermore, however favourable the previously mentioned statistics are, they cannot fully capture the fact that the euro area has become more resilient to external developments than its individual member countries ever were before the launch of the euro.