, they would be happy to discover their countries would see more than seventy consecutive years of peace. i believe the european union has played a large role in ensuring such long - lasting peace. it seems that robert schuman was right to predict that the european coal and steel community would make war both unthinkable and materially impossible. and peace on the european continent has also meant the spread of democracy. when the treaty of rome was signed, only 12 of the current eu member states were democracies. today all 28 of them are. and with democracy came freedom. with the charter of fundamental rights, the eu enshrined all personal, civic, political, economic and social rights within one document. the charter also established the right to data protection, guarantees on bioethics and transparent administration. i am sure you recognise how topical these issues are today. and i hope you appreciate the unprecedented protections that eu citizens enjoy. peace, democracy and freedom in turn brought prosperity. of course, we still face challenges on this front. some eu countries today face difficult economic conditions, largely a legacy of the great recession. employment levels still vary significantly across the union. and high levels of 1 / 3 bis central bankers'speeches inequality exist within countries too. oecd data show that in many european countries, a small minority owns a disproportionately large share of the wealth. income inequality is also higher than it was a generation ago. but let us not forget the shared economic benefits of the union. the average gdp per capita of eu countries has almost doubled in the past 20 years alone. and our future prosperity is also a function of today ’ s education, research and innovation. some of the best universities in the world are located in the eu. over the past 30 years, around 9 million people have benefited from the erasmus programme. the eu also supports research across the union. horizon 2020 is the largest multinational research programme in existence, providing around €77 billion in funding over seven years. all of these historic steps have been achieved in the spirit of unity in diversity. but there is no denying the fact that such unity is hard to manage. resolving the challenges ahead will involve negotiations between all member states. and each of them has slightly different priorities and views. moving forward will take time and effort. but if we want this effort to be meaningful, we must reflect on the long - term goals. as far as i am concerned, one goal should be to strengthen

theodore mitrakos : overview of the greek economy and financial sector speech by mr theodore mitrakos, deputy governor of the bank of greece, at the 37th meeting of the central banks governors'club, session iii " country presentations - recent economic and financial developments ", belek - antalya, turkey, 3 april 2017. * * * it is a great pleasure for me to be here with you today and have the opportunity to update you on economic and financial developments, and more importantly to share my thoughts on the growth prospects of the greek economy. allow me first to give you a brief overview of the performance of the greek economy and financial sector over the last few years. following the global financial crisis of 2007 – 2008, the greek economy has entered a deep and prolonged recession. the sovereign debt crisis in greece turned soon into a banking crisis : banks were gradually excluded from the interbank market, suffered significant deposit outflows and losses to the value of their assets as the sovereign debt was downgraded by rating agencies. what started as a liquidity crisis for banks, turned into a solvency crisis following the greek debt restructuring ( the so - called private sector involvement – psi ) and debt buyback in 2012. greek banks suffered losses in the order of €38 billion, which wiped out their entire capital base. furthermore, the cumulative decline in real gdp by more than a quarter from its pre - crisis level and the surge in unemployment impacted negatively the financial condition of households and businesses and therefore the ability of borrowers to service their debt obligations. as a result, non - performing loans increased by around eight times from 5. 5 % in 2008 to 45. 1 % in june 2016. against this backdrop, greece has implemented a brave programme of economic adjustment that has eliminated fiscal and external deficits and improved competitiveness that, between 2009 and 2016, resulted in the shrinkage of the general government deficit by approximately 14 percentage points of gdp and to the improvement of the primary balance, adjusted for the effect of the business cycle, by about 17 percentage points of potential gdp. this achievement represents one of the largest fiscal adjustments ever undertaken worldwide. significant improvement was also recorded on external adjustment, where the current account improved by about 15 percentage points of gdp compared to 2008, being in balance in the last two years. in addition, bold reforms in the labour and product markets helped towards the restoration of competitiveness, helping the share of exports in gdp to increase from 19 % in 2009 to 30 %