They were very keen to start the process early, ... But once they start, they may not continue at a rapid rate.
To be fair with Schroeder, he tried and by European standards he did do more than other governments in the past few years. But the problems in Germany are more entrenched now.
That whole era is gone for good and not many people will regret its passing.
We don't see another rate rise, but we recognize that the risk is still there, due largely to oil prices -- the oil market remains vulnerable for both supply and demand reasons.
We don't see any change this year. Economic indicators seem to suggest there will be no change in interest rates in the short term.
There is clearly a risk now that they might be bold enough to tighten policy in December, We think they will wait until March.
It would take a big global shock to change the prospects for at least modest growth in Europe.
As always, protectionism doesn't work. The past resistance to change has resulted in the Italian banking system being still affected by fragmentation, with plenty of small-scale players.
The government was very reluctant to take a position because it's a very delicate situation, but now they are really turning the pressure on.
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