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rigid legal and regulatory environment. unemployment is a clear concern right now in many parts of the euro area, and we surely do not want to lose human capital or scar a large proportion of the people of working age. as i mentioned before wage restraint would help a lot in this respect. more generally, in order to minimise job and output losses related to see european commission ( 2006 ). the current downturn, it is vital that euro area governments and social partners pursue four objectives : • first, wage setting needs to take account of the competitiveness and labour market conditions in a responsible and timely manner. 9 • second, national authorities should pursue courageous policies of spending restraint especially in the case of public wages. a prudent fiscal stance should be always in place. • third, the completion of the single market, particularly in services and network industries, should be achieved. a deeper integration of markets is crucial to foster competition and open product and labour markets. measures that hinder free competition and cross - border trade must be avoided. in this context, it is of the utmost importance to resist protectionist measures. • fourth, in the context of the lisbon agenda, the necessary reforms that enhance competition and improve long - term growth prospects in the euro area must be implemented. especially in these difficult times such reforms are very important in all euro area countries to counteract the economic downturn and limit its negative impact on employment. the price of delaying reforms is particularly high at the current stage. for many years, we have been saying that we need structural reforms – more openness, more competition. the crisis offers us the opportunity and the obligation to seize the moment and implement the right reforms. these would help the economy overcome the crisis and be stronger afterwards. i also want to call on european policy makers as a whole. as a lesson from the current crisis, we should consider ways how to strengthen our surveillance of competitiveness within the european union, and in particular the euro area. this should help countries to build stronger buffers in good times. and it should also help to avoid excessive increases in unit labour costs. in other words, this would prevent us from again extending public and private spending beyond sustainable levels and experiencing difficulties similar to the current ones. 5. conclusion let me draw to a close. as you know, the great irish playwright george bernard shaw was not at all impressed by the economics profession. his was the famous disparaging remark that “ if all economists were laid end to end,