mr. liebscher discusses the role of a national central bank within the escb as illustrated by the oenb address by the president of the austrian national bank, dr. klaus liebscher, held at the 26th economics conference of the oesterreichische nationalbank on the topic “ economic policy 2000 ”, in vienna on 7 - 8 / 5 / 98. introduction just a few days ago, the key political decisions which will pave the way to emu were taken at the summit in brussels. based upon the preparatory work of the european monetary institute, the commission and ecofin, the council of the heads of state or of government agreed last weekend to start stage three of emu on january 1, 1999, with eleven countries. at the same time, the bilateral exchange rates for the participating currencies, which are to form the basis for their euro conversion rates, were preannounced. the european central bank will be formally inaugurated in frankfurt on june 30, and emu will commence on schedule on january 1, 1999. these developments have provided the financial markets with reliable points of reference that will contribute substantially to a calculable development of exchange rates and interest rates until the onset of emu. the general public and the financial markets are now convinced that emu will become reality in just a few months ’ time. by comparison, people know much less about the institutions that will be responsible for the single monetary policy and, in particular, about the relationships among them. will there still be a place left within emu for today ’ s national central banks? and if so, which tasks are they going to keep once monetary policy is made in frankfurt? these are questions that are frequently asked. and the answers are indeed quite complex. the basic institutional framework of the european system of central banks as defined in the escb / ecb statute a superficial glance at the escb / ecb statute lets things appear quite simple. • the establishment of the ecb in mid - 1998 will coincide with the foundation of the european system of central banks ( escb ). the escb will consist of the ecb and the national central banks ( ncbs ) of the eu member states. from january 1, 1999, the escb will have the sole responsibility for the single monetary policy within the euro area. in performing its tasks, the escb will be independent of any political instructions and will be committed to the primary objective of price stability. • the escb will

focus will change more or less markedly. the oenb ’ s macroeconomic analyses, for example, will cover monetary policy - 11 - in the entire euro area in order to provide the best possible briefing to the oenb governor ahead of the regular conferences of the ecb ’ s governing council. on the other hand, the impact of a single monetary policy on the austrian economy will have to be identified and recommendations worked out for domestic economic policies. furthermore, the economic development of our neighboring countries in the east will remain of key interest to the oenb ’ s analytical work. i already mentioned the changes in the operative aspects of monetary policy. the oenb will continue these activities within the escb. the oenb will also continue to collect monetary and balance - of - payments statistics in austria, albeit in a form that has been harmonized for the entire euro area. in the area of payment systems, monetary union has provided a fresh impetus to the oenb. the oenb has developed and successfully implemented artis ( austrian real - time interbank settlement ), a new payment system meeting european requirements and ready for integration into target, the european payment system, from jan. 1, 1999. the oenb has also made intensive and thorough preparations for the production and distribution of the future euro banknotes. the design contest for the future euro banknotes was won by a graphic artist employed with the oenb. by setting up a new printing works for banknotes, the oenb has the required technology in place for the production of euro banknotes. in the field of banking supervision, the current responsibilities of the oenb are in no way affected by the establishment of the escb. monetary union will, however, intensify and speed up restructuring processes in the european financial markets. more market transparency, increased cross - border competition, progressive disintermediation and rising financial exposure against a background of much more closely knit world financial markets will pose formidable challenges to the bodies responsible for supervising financial markets and banks. the oenb responds to this situation with a staff of qualified employees and active participation in the ever tighter international coordination of supervisory authorities. on a third level, the reorganization involves legal and organizational restructuring of the oenb. the austrian central bank has a long tradition as an independent institution. the requirement under the treaty of maastricht to harmonize the central bank statutes with the provisions of the treaty by the time the es