Fiscal consolidation is an essential first step on the path back to sustainable and balanced growth in the countries concerned, and ultimately to achieve the objectives of the Treaty and the expectations of European citizens. It is equally essential that all euro area countries create a strong surveillance of their competitiveness indicators and of their imbalances as a second “pillar” of their governance.
We are more than one and a half years after the summit that launched the EFSF as part of a financial support package amounting to 750 billion euros or one trillion dollars; we are four months after the summit that decided to make the full EFSF guarantee volume available; and we are four weeks after the summit that agreed on leveraging of the resources by a factor of up to four or five and that declared the EFSF would be fully operational and that all its tools will be used in an effective way to ensure financial stability in the euro area.