labour demand and supply are still present along a number of dimensions. all this shows that large structural problems remain and need to be solved. what needs to be done to speed up labour market reforms? this is a difficult question, not least because the euro area labour markets are still very heterogeneous. each country should identify the root causes of its labour market deficiencies and implement appropriate corrective measures. however, there are some areas of reform that apply to many, if not all, euro area countries. improved job mediation, education and training, to mention just a few examples, all help towards making the matching process more efficient. in addition, euro area countries need to ensure that tax and benefit systems make work pay. reforms to tax and benefit systems should increase work incentives, profitability and competitiveness and consequently labour supply and demand. at the same time, it is important to ensure that tax - benefit reforms are undertaken without jeopardising the long - term sustainability of public finances. conclusion ladies and gentlemen. joseph schumpeter taught us that economic development consists of the continuous introduction of new combinations of products and means of production. he taught us that this process involves the incessant mutation of the economic structure from within, destroying the old and creating a new. in today's dynamic, ever - changing economic environment, entrepreneurs have to be all the more innovative and sensitive to new opportunities. the regulatory framework has to be designed in such a way that it allows this to happen by providing the right incentives for innovation, dynamism and economic growth. today's dynamic society also requires an increased ability of markets to adjust smoothly to changing economic circumstances. this is all the more true of a monetary union, where member countries are no longer able to use country - specific monetary and exchange rate policies to address country - specific shocks. in such an environment, other adjustment mechanisms are needed such as price and wage flexibility and factor mobility. structural reforms can contribute to a better functioning of these adjustment mechanisms by fostering integration and competition. the relationship between integration, competition and the single currency works in both directions. the euro itself has already contributed to more integration and competition and will continue to do so in the future. its impact is most clearly visible in financial markets, where a single money market has been created and a deep, liquid bond market has encouraged a surge in debt issuance by the corporate sector. in product markets, the euro has an important impact on the cross - border transparency of prices

the scale to one side or the other and act as a catalyst for promoting the provision of financial services more broadly throughout the euro area. second, faster progress is needed on disclosure and standardisation. for markets to better support the greening of the economy, and to mitigate risks to financial stability, asset prices need to correctly reflect the externalities associated with climate change. at the current juncture, however, financial markets are suffering from various market failures. uncertainty about what actually qualifies as green activity is one of them. common and clear definitions are a fundamental building block for facilitating the market pricing of environmental risks. the adoption in mid - june of the european commission ’ s taxonomy regulation was an important step in establishing a classification system for sustainable economic activities. but three words of caution are in order. first, the framework is expected to become fully operational only after the adoption of its delegated acts in 2021 and 2022 and so will provide limited guidance at a time when issuance needs are reaching historical levels. during this period, we need to find a way to mitigate the risks of “ greenwashing ” so as to channel funds to where they are most effective. second, a green taxonomy needs to be complemented by a taxonomy for environmentally harmful activities so that investors can identify transition risks more easily and hence also price risk differentials more effectively. and third, the taxonomy requires granular data for it to be useable. in the absence of corporate - level information, the taxonomy cannot be put into use and many metrics will prove useless. this is clearly visible when looking at environmental ratings for financial products : if available, they are often inconsistent, incomparable and at times unreliable – in many cases reflecting the absence of granular data or the large discretion in the construction of such indicators. indicators from different sources often display a very low correlation ( see figure 8 ). figure 8 financial market pricing of climate risk : correlations of bank environmental scores by bloomberg and refinitiv source : ecb financial stability review, november 2019 based on bloomberg, refinitiv eikon, s & p global market intelligence and dealogic. notes : the bloomberg and refinitiv environmental scores give values between 0 and 100, whereby a higher value indicates a better performance in terms of environmental variables. the full unbalanced sample consists of 49 banks and 23 insurers in the eu and the united states. disclosure of climate - related information should therefore become mandatory and more standardised under