As ECB President Mario Draghi rightfully said two weeks ago at the annual European Banking Congress in Frankfurt, this is the right moment for the euro area to address the remaining gaps in the institutional architecture of the EMU and, if I could add, that would help the benefits of growth in Europe reach not only the countries of the North, but also the countries of the europeriphery.
We have experienced the consequences of confidence diverging across countries. We have suffered from the resulting loss of growth and rise in unemployment. No one who has experienced either this crisis, or the economic volatility of the 1970s and early 1980s, can credibly conclude that a return to a mere juxtaposition of national policies will improve the situation of any of our countries.