At the end of the 1990s the public debt represented the same proportion of GDP in Italy and in Belgium, 114 per cent. In Belgium, a virtually balanced budget and greater growth than in Italy by some 6 percentage points over the period allowed the debt ratio to be reduced to less than 90 per cent in 2006.
The second subject I would like to mention briefly is that of internal models. Solvency II permits insurance companies to propose the use of their own internal model as an alternate to the directive’s standardised formula for calculating solvency requirements. The framework is calibrated to provide an incentive for firms to invest and develop more sophisticated risk management.