At the G-20 summit earlier this month in Cannes, the United States and other advanced economies – including France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, and the United Kingdom – agreed to pursue fiscal consolidation plans to place public finances on a sustainable course over the medium term while sustaining the near-term recovery.
Appropriate structural reforms will support a sustainable economic upswing and also the consolidation of public finances, which will be crucial not only in Spain but in the entire euro area, for confidence to be restored. Conclusions As I noted at the beginning of this speech, the current environment is clearly much more challenging than it was five years ago.