have shown themselves to be extremely powerful, as can be seen from the remarkable events that have taken place since the schuman declaration nearly half a century ago. some 50 years ago, it was already clear to europe ’ s political leaders that they needed to overcome the nationalism which had ultimately led to two world wars and devastated much of europe in the first half of this century. in order to ensure a future of peace and stability they needed instead to pursue policies which would bring european nations closer together and in so doing eliminate the risk of future conflicts. this, as i believe we are all aware, was one of the original “ political ” motives behind european integration. of course, the world has changed a great deal since the treaty of paris, and with it the political motives driving the integration process. nevertheless, if one draws a parallel between the world of 50 years ago and the world of today, one cannot deny that the current enlargement process is driven, at least in part, by the desire to ensure a future of peace and stability for the whole of europe, and not just for the 15 nations which currently comprise the european union. of perhaps even greater significance in today ’ s globalising world are the “ economic ” forces driving european integration. this is not to say that they were not already important in the early years of the process. indeed, just as it became apparent 50 years ago that europe needed to break free from the ghost of nationalism, so too it became clear that the protectionism of the inter - war period also had to be abandoned. this was an essential prerequisite for restoring economic growth and improving social conditions in post - war europe. and so it is for the accession countries today, which no doubt see their integration into the eu as a way of ensuring that the necessary conditions are created for the sustainable, long - term growth of their economies. of course, these political and economic forces to which i refer are very closely linked. so much so, that it is hard to imagine one without the other. this is no doubt one of the reasons why economic integration and political integration are often seen as going hand in hand. indeed, the lessons of history tell us that political objectives are rarely met unless they are supported by a sound economic footing. and this is where the role of a central banker comes in. as central bankers we are not politicians and nor should we try to be. our role is to support wider economic and political objectives by creating the monetary conditions conduci

the japanese national accounts as they are based on the international system of national accounts ( sna ), which is compatible with the european system of accounts ( esa 95 ). according to the european commission forecasts ( spring 2010 ), the deficit - to - gdp ratio for 2009 is projected to be 6. 9 %. it is important to highlight that no comparable deficit figures for japan are available for 2009 yet. this is due to the fact that japan releases national accounts data of the year t - 2 in the year t ( 2009 data will be available only by the beginning of 2011 ). in terms of deficit, the main methodological discrepancies between the us methodology and the european standards are mainly related to the sector delineation ( public corporations are included in the us government sector ), the recording of some military expenditures and the inventories held by governments. the euro area deficit and debt indicators are based on the european system of accounts ( esa95 ) and on the excessive deficit procedure ( edp ) concepts. in japan, the deficit and debt indicators are compiled according to the sna2008 concepts. the us deficit data are based on the national income and products accounts ( nipa ) methodology, which deviates to some extent from the sna2008, while the us debt data are based on the flow of funds methodology used by the federal reserve. government expenditure covers social payments, subsidies, other current transfers, interest, compensation of employees, intermediate consumption and capital expenditure. “ edp debt ” definition. one should highlight that the japanese government holds financial assets worth around 90 % of gdp ( with a high percentage held by its social security system – around 40 % of the total ), which represent a buffer from a solvency perspective. this yields a net government debt - to - gdp ratio in japan of around 86 % ( 2008 ). net debt is calculated from the japanese ’ s balance sheet data, as the difference between the government liabilities ( 177. 4 % of gdp in 2008 ) and the financial assets ( 90. 9 % of gdp in 2008 ). progress and plans to fill gaps these examples illustrate the importance of internationally comparable statistics. the statistics should only reflect differences in economic developments and the impact of the underlying phenomena. they should not be clouded by differences in statistical methodology. in close cooperation with statisticians globally, the ecb is contributing to the g20 initiatives 13 to provide harmonised and transparent global financial statistics in real time. these initiatives had