Now, about whether we need a demand-led stimulus; the third component of my exposé. I will briefly focus on those aspects that are under the exclusive competence of the European Union or shared competence with the member states. In other words, the single market. Michel Barnier had a very precise and very telling way of putting things when he said “le marché unique peut être la première victime de la crise, mais peut aussi être la voie de sortie de la crise” - si j’ai bien noté - and this precisely why Italy, if I may say well beyond its historic tradition in this regard, is putting such a lot of emphasis in Brussels on the single market becoming a key for growth.

Two years ago, this very day, when we marked the 60th anniversary of the Schuman Declaration, I handed over to President Barroso a report on the single market which he had commissioned to me and was kindly evoked by Commissioner Barnier this morning.

Two years ago it was already easy to perceive an integration fatigue, that was there even before the financial crisis, in 2007, and intensified as the crisis continued, inducing many people to ask themselves whether the market economy itself is altogether a good idea. With a single market fatigue doubled as market economy fatigue it takes a very brave Commissioner, as Michel Barnier is, especially if he is French, to lead a fight for more, not less single market, and that’s why I admire and encourage his work. Especially as we experience in many of our countries, west and east of the former Iron Curtain, the development of parties and movements that essentially opposed to integration, whether extreme right or left, basically united by the rejection of integration be it at the European level or at the global level. La “mondialisation”, pronounced in French is even more worrisome than globalization.

So it clear to me that although we badly need to complete the single market because, as Mr. Montezemolo underlined, in the services area, in particular, there isn’t much of a real single market, it’s a hard job to promote it when there are tendencies to go back to national preferences, to local preferences, not to be speak of contrade - a cultural rather than trade notion.