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Introduction
R e t u rning to the Tre a s u ry and the European Union finance ministers’ circuit after nearly two years away, I have been struck by how much Europe has changed over the past few years. With 27 ministers around the table, plus their ambassadors or central bank governors, the meetings are now very large. Television screens are usually needed so that we can see the faces of our interlocutors. Genuine debate is hard and drafting discussions over communiqué texts are even more protracted than they used to be. And yet, as the years pass, I am more and more struck by the huge contribution that the European Union has made – and is making – to the prosperity and security of our continent. To be part, as I was recently in Berlin at the informal meeting of the Ecofin Council, of a debate over tax between Germany and Poland, or over the contro l of public spending with Estonia and Lithuania or the Czech Republic, would have been unthinkable just 20 years ago. So whatever the particular issue we are debating at the time, I always make sure that at any European meeting I attend, I step back and reflect on what a great achievement the Union is. And Europe is benefiting from these changes. With enlargement from 15 to 27 member-states, and a Commission led by Pre s i d e n t José Manuel Barroso, the European Union is taking significant strides towards a more open and global view of the world. I have seen how these discussions – like those attended by my colleagues on border controls and immigration, agriculture, transport or international development – are further entrenching the shared commitment to peace and to prosperity across our continent, which has been such a great achievement over the last 60 years.