German extra-euro area trade contributed particularly strongly to these developments, increasing from 31% of German GDP in 1998 to 51% in 2006. German trade is a good example of the fact that the euro area is an open economy and not a “fortress Europe”.
Another issue for financial authorities and central banks is an adequate consideration of environmental hazards in financial institutions’ risk management, supervisors’ rules and practices, and economic modelling. Again, insurance companies and insurance regulators are very much part of this process; I shall go back to this point in a minute.