In the field of public finances, the euro area is on track. What we need now is persistence and patience. If governments fail to deliver in the deleveraging process, defragmentation could easily be slowed down or even reversed. In the financial sector, balance sheet adjustments have also started. In many Member States impaired assets have been transferred to asset management companies.
Purchases from the United States are about half of the total, while imports from China have increased from less than 2 percent of the total in 2000 to more than 16 percent in 2014. FDI has increased significantly in recent years.