success story and that the so - called pre - in countries will join the euro as early as possible. in the light of the desirable early enlargement of the number of participants, at the points where there are still differences between the eurosystem and the “ pre - ins ” in the monetary policy field, a further “ convergence process ” would undoubtedly facilitate the entry into monetary union. furthermore, given the exchange - rate criterion set by the maastricht treaty, the question likewise arises for sweden and the uk as to accession to the ems ii system. but i am deliberately refraining from going into that tonight. at any rate, i should welcome it if the eu country sweden were soon to take the final step into european monetary union. without a country of such rich tradition and strong economic performance as sweden undoubtedly is, european monetary union remains incomplete. that is why we were all delighted that sweden ratified the maastricht treaty. myself, i am quite convinced that one day it will take advantage of the options the treaty envisages, meet all the convergence requirements and join the monetary union. but the decision rests, of course, with the swedes themselves. all i can say is : you are warmly welcome.

- hit countries with open arms. the result would be a win - win situation. people from the crisis - hit countries would find jobs here, and may possibly one day return to their home countries with the knowledge and experience they have acquired here. and employers in germany would find the right employees for the posts they want to fill. bis central bankers ’ speeches but, in germany as elsewhere, there is more to do than that : we in germany need to continue to tackle the ongoing challenges of globalisation, and we also need to do more to deal with the challenges of demographic change. we, like others, cannot sit idly by. therefore, this is no time for resting on our laurels. we also have to continue to think about how we can ensure that our enterprises can find sufficient numbers of skilled, motivated employees, given that germany ’ s potential labour force is steadily shrinking for demographic reasons. first, then, we should try to increase labour force participation amongst women and older people … … and, second, we should make it easier for skilled workers to migrate to germany. however, it is not just a matter of slowing the shrinkage of the labour force – what are also required are measures to enhance labour productivity. here i am thinking, in particular, of expenditure on education. but it is less about the level of spending on education, and more about the targeted use of resources, particularly in the provision of pre - school support. another important challenge is in integrating the low - skilled and the long - term unemployed into the world of work. looking ahead, there will also have to be a discussion about how the german economy can be better equipped to deal with ongoing structural shifts. if we are to hold our own in the international competitive environment, we will need to enable workers from shrinking industries to migrate as smoothly as possible to new growth industries. that requires a labour market which is not just flexible on the edges. now i have looked at the need for reform in the labour market, i must, of course, turn to the issue of public finances. 3. the need for reform in public finances as a result of the financial crisis and the ensuing economic collapse, the budget deficits of many euro - area countries expanded significantly. in 2010, the deficit was above the threshold of 3 % of gross domestic product in 14 out of the 17 countries. indeed, in ireland action to rescue the domestic banking system pushed the deficit up to just under 31 % of gdp in 2010. the con