*  *  *  Ladies and Gentlemen, Last year was one of important changes: in Europe, by reason of the evolving institutional context and major economic and monetary policy decisions; in Italy, by reason of the quickening pace of the reform effort. It was a year of difficult choices, whose early results – significant but still fragile – must be resolutely defended.
The recovery of the European economy is ongoing and the tensions in the financial systems have eased somewhat, although it is still too early to claim victory. But we have to draw the lessons from the recent experience. With the eruption of the crisis in September 2008 the accumulation of private debt was suddenly stopped. The problem of excessive indebtedness was not solved, however.