But I am confident that with a banking union we can create the pre-conditions for more sustainable financial integration in the future. Financial integration before the crisis: what went wrong? Let me start by outlining how financial integration evolved before the crisis.
In this vein, supportive national economic environments – including well-conceived physical and social infrastructures, sound public finances and, I should emphasise, stable financial systems – will all contribute to the competitiveness of the euro area. Let me go a little deeper into the challenges of competitiveness for Europe’s economy.