The assessment of 10 years of EMU is ambivalent. On the one hand, the introduction of the common currency has contributed towards price stability and the euro has acquired a global status next to the dollar. Monetary Union has also stimulated cross-border trade within the euro area. On the other...

The tax reform 2004-05 includes tax cuts within income taxation (€ –2.2 billion) and corporate taxation (€ –1.1 billion) as well as increases of several excise taxes (€ +232 million). The changes in the income tax rate scale taking effect in 2005 will increase tax progression and...