With respect to the current crisis and its origins, we all see more or less the same problems. We see a sovereign debt crisis; we see high public or private debt and a lack of competitiveness in some member states; we see current account imbalances, and we see weaknesses in the framework of monetary union and in its financial system.
Among the OECD member countries, only three countries, Korea, Australia and Poland, chalked up positive growth in 2009. What is more while it took six quarters for the economy to regain its pre-crisis scale following the Asian foreign currency crisis in 1997, it took only four quarters after this latest crisis.