more specifically, moderate wage developments in the euro area as a whole reflect an aggregation of diverse wage developments across euro area countries with important implications for cost competitiveness. indeed, over longer horizons we observe that euro area countries that have been able to preserve a low level of unit labour cost growth have also experienced significant gains in employment. at the same time, when looking at accumulated unit labour cost changes we observe that a number of economies which lost cost competitiveness also experienced a loss of market shares, less gains in job creation and / or deteriorating current account position. despite the decline in the euro area average unemployment rate over the last few years, unemployment remains too high in several countries and regions of the euro area. in these countries and regions, wage increases should not fully exhaust productivity gains in order to provide incentives for firms to create additional jobs. in this respect, sufficient wage differentiation is also required to improve the employment opportunities for less skilled workers where there is high unemployment for this category of employees. the extent to which an increase in nominal wage growth leads to upward pressure on inflation depends crucially on trend labour productivity growth. under normal circumstances, stronger labour productivity growth would justify an increase in nominal wage growth, thus allowing wage earners to participate in economic growth without adding to inflationary pressures. but for the same reason, without sustained improvements in labour productivity higher nominal wages would not lead to improvements in real purchasing power, but fuel inflationary pressures. importantly, industries are characterised by different productivity developments. therefore, wage setting should allow for sufficient wage differentiation and agreements in one industry or sector can not readily be transferred to others. those are the reasons whey the governing council calls for a high level of responsibility from social partners. it is aiming at preserving and improving the situation of employees and of all our fellow citizens in the euro area. such a responsible policy directly benefits those who are unemployed by significantly improving their employment possibilities. it benefits all our fellow citizens by supporting the purchasing power of their income, thus preserving the well - being of euro area households. and it contributes to meeting one necessary condition for sustainable long - term growth and active job creation in the euro area, which is price stability. naturally there are also a number of other factors that are contributing to sustainable growth and job creation, in particular sound public finances and, as i already said, structural reforms that enhance competition, increase productivity and foster economic flexibility in order to elevate the growth potential of our vast euro area economy. augmenting the growth potential

gertrude tumpel - gugerell : a single market for cards : the missing piece in the sepa puzzle speech by ms gertrude tumpel - gugerell, member of the executive board of the european central bank, at the efma conference on cards & payments, paris, 9 september 2009. * * * introduction ladies and gentlemen, it is a pleasure for me to participate in the efma conference once again. the market for cards reminds me of ancient greece. why? in ancient greece there was a strong military state called sparta where trade was forbidden for free citizens and the currency consisted of huge iron bars, making money circulation very difficult, creating a barrier to transactions. sparta concentrated on warfare and was outlived by a more creative people, namely the people of athens. since the time of sparta trade has become a major factor for wealth creation. trade requires open markets for payment services. 7 years after the start of the single euro payments area ( sepa ) project, we are not yet there – and with cards even less than with other transactions. today, i would like to focus on card payments and share with you the expectations that we have in this field. but let me begin with the progress we have made so far in the sepa process. sepa progress the sepa credit transfer ( sct ) scheme, although its use is still relatively low, is growing every month. the forthcoming launch of the sepa direct debit ( sdd ) scheme, the expected use of the sct and sdd by public authorities and corporates and the definition of an enddate are all elements that will further boost sct migration. with respect to the sdd migration, i am pleased to see that developments moved in the right direction : 1. the payment services directive ( psd ) 1 will be transposed into national legislation by 1 november 2009 providing a single harmonised legal framework across europe ; 2. the updated regulation on cross - border payments 2 requires the sdd scheme to be reachable in full by november 2010 ; and 3. the european commission has provided the necessary long - term perspectives for the multilateral interchange fees ( mifs ) for direct debits in march this year : the european commission, supported by the ecb, 3 has clarified that there is no reason for pertransaction mifs to remain in place at the national and at cross border level for either sepa direct debits or national “ legacy ” direct de