The available indicators show that, with the introduction of the euro and the removal of the exchange rate risk, government bond yields have converged in all countries, with the standard deviation in yield spreads being less than 0.1 percentage point for all three maturities.
The indicators therefore show that the euro area government bond market has reached a high degree of integration, increasingly driven by common news. Local factors, however, will continue to have an impact. Among those are differences in liquidity, in the availability of derivatives markets, and of course of perceived credit risks.