Indeed, a lot of work has been conducted on this issue by market participants - and I know that ISMA has been a driving force in this regard - as well as by the public authorities at the European level. To a large extent, it should find its way into the directive on collateral that the European commission is about to propose to facilitate the cross-border collateralisation technique. •  As regards more specifically securities markets, the cross-border circulation and settlement of securities needs to be further enhanced. One can expect the consolidation process that is taking place among securities settlement systems (SSSs) to improve eventually the ability of market participants to move securities efficiently at lower costs across the euro zone. •  Similar remarks can be made regarding stock markets. Confronted with fierce competition coming from new entrants, our traditional stock exchanges are implementing major changes. The introduction of the euro has been a catalyst which added another strong incentive for the rationalization of all the existing market structures. These tremendous changes, perhaps we could even call them a revolution, have been sped up by the never ending improvements in technology. Indeed, the technology revolution is transforming not only the architecture of stock markets, but also the organization of bond markets. It impacts the way intermediaries and investors conduct their business. The outcome of the changes brought about by these developments are not yet well known.
This has largely contributed to the emergence of an environment favorable to price stability and low unit production costs, strengthening the competitiveness of our European economy. Finally, all countries have experienced significant fiscal consolidation in the 1990s Enhanced European performances are also evidenced by the significant fiscal consolidation pursued in Europe in the 1990s. The general government deficit for the euro area fell by 3.5 percentage points between 1993 and 1997 and was brought back below the 3% threshold. Since then, deficits have continued to fall. The most recent data point to a public deficit of 1.2% of GDP for the euro area in 1999, down from 2.0% in 1998. Four countries of the euro area have managed to achieve a fiscal surplus since 1999. The fact that European member states have made significant efforts in order to improve their public finances does not mean that the process of fiscal consolidation is over. In fact, some member states, including France, still have some way to go to meet the Stability and Growth Pact goal of budget positions which are close to balance or in surplus. In addition, there is a need to further reduce government debt levels, which remained above 70% of GDP for the euro area.