Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen,

Life is not easy for policy makers in Europe today! At the risk of sounding sorry for ourselves, I think it is fair to say that our job is more difficult now than it has ever been. We face a situation which is unprecedented in its complexity and which is changing with astonishing speed.

Let me just run through some of the challenges we face. In many of our countries, unemployment stands at over 10%. This is creating new divisions in our societies between those who have a job and those who do not. And economic growth in Europe over the last few years has been below its potential.

Added to this, we have the twin problems of low population growth and ageing. In other words, our working age population is shrinking while the number of our citizens who are past retirement age is growing.

This is not just a matter of academic interest. Growth is the key to our future prosperity. Without it, we will not be able to improve or even maintain our living standards. And we will not be able to sustain our social model, our pensions and our healthcare systems particularly as our population grows older.