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The bank’s research department transcribed Hafeez’s speech and sent it out to clients in a note..

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The speech focuses on the euro area’s economic woes and the need for the currency bloc to move forward with further integration in order to be economically successful.

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Hafeez opens the speech with a reflection on parenting and a child’s years as a “terrible teen.”

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Then, he makes an interesting comparison to the euro area, complete with a religious allegory.

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Who else has entered the terrible teens? The Euro-Area! It was born in 1999, and so is currently fourteen years old. It has all the hallmarks of teenage angst. It is ridden with internal conflicts, it is groping around for structure, and it is suspicious of authority. So who can be a positive role model for the Euro-Area? Well it cannot be the “fathers”: Germany or France.

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It has to be an external figure that all Europeans respect, and whose motives and character are beyond dispute. That rules out anyone living as even the most competent person will make missteps or have something from their past dredged up to undermine them. That leaves us with historical figures whose lives have been laid bare by history. I can only think of one figure that is respected by most Europeans and has never sinned, Jesus!

http://macedoniaonline.eu/content/view/22931/53/