Publication

The Lisbon Special European Council, held in March of this year, set 2005 as the deadline for implementing a single European financial market. But if Europe really wants to achieve this goal and be able to compete with other international financial markets, it must accept the political consequences that come with such an objective: ultimately, it will have to equip itself with an integrated regulatory and prudential system. Just as Monetary Union requires a single currency and a European central bank, a single European financial market can hardly be implemented with out broad convergence of the regulatory and supervisory framework.