The German Presidency has a strong mandate for action to build from. This is a very strong mandate. It is a sign of the success of the Luxembourg process. We have reason for confidence in Europe. We have achieved good monetary stability - inflation is gone.
Public finances are in better shape.
We have higher profitability than during the 80s. We are beginning to realise the potential of Europe as an economic entity. And we have begun to apply the Employment Strategy, to carry out the modernisation of labour markets and work organisation that we need. Still, there are doubts in business and financial markets. We all know that we need strong growth to get jobs and we all know that we need economic stability to keep interest rates down.