Lorenzo Bini Smaghi: Emu@10 – the First Ten Years of Economic and Monetary Union and Future Challenges

In order to do that, I believe that there are a series of clarifications to be made, starting with an assessment of the past ten years. In any balance sheet there are assets and liabilities. The last ten years are full of assets, in many respects. One is the euro, and the creation of an area of monetary stability. Very few believed ten years ago that this could be achieved. I would like to quote Alan Greenspan, who in his recent book stated “We have in front of us a historically unique institution, an independent central bank with the exclusive mandate to maintain price stability in an economic area producing over a quarter of the world GDP. It’s an extraordinary result. I can’t stop my admiration for what my European colleagues have been able to achieve”.