the everyday life of over 300 million people and right from its very first days, the euro has been a success. despite what many sceptics expected, the ecb and the euro have been credible from day one. this credibility is based on the sound institutional setting for emu enshrined in the maastricht treaty. the treaty provides the ecb with a clear mandate to safeguard price stability in the euro area and the eurosystem enjoys full independence in the pursuit of this mandate. over the past ten years the ecb ’ s stability - oriented monetary policy strategy has made a significant contribution to the delivery of price stability and to the anchoring of inflation expectations in line with this primary objective of monetary policy. despite the fact that a large number of unforeseeable and adverse macroeconomic and geopolitical shocks have hit the euro area economy since 1998, inflation in the euro area has remained on average in the close vicinity of 2 %. it is – therefore – remarkable that even amidst such disturbances, inflation expectations have remained anchored at levels consistent with price stability over the medium term. and, it is undeniable that this is a significant improvement compared with the decades prior to the introduction of the euro. indeed, the euro has resulted in significant advantages for euro area citizens and companies, notably by creating an environment of monetary and financial stability. the euro has brought favourable financing conditions with market interest rates being much lower than in pre - emu times, thereby supporting investment and sustainable economic growth. the citizens of the euro area ultimately benefit in terms of more competition, favourable prices and better employment prospects. moreover, the euro and eurosystem institutions have contributed to a more efficient functioning of the financial system and to greater financial integration. the financial market participants benefit from lower costs of capital and a more efficient allocation of resources. the success of the euro has only been possible with a great team effort among the today 15 ncbs and the ecb. it is a great success that the governing council consisting of at the beginning 11 and today 15 national central bank governors with very different and diverse monetary policy experience and history and 6 ecb executive board members conducted a joint monetary policy for the euro area independently of national interests. in this context, let me reflect further on the role of the ncbs in the overall eurosystem policy - making process. 2. the role of ncbs in the eurosystem the eurosystem operates very much like any other large organisation with a decent

##ralised structure. the different roles of the ecb and the ncbs can be characterized by the following analogy : the ecb is the “ captain of the team ”, and ncbs are team members. turning to how the ecb and the ncbs share the tasks in the regular cycle of the eurosystem ’ s monetary policy decision - making process, i would like to highlight the following : 1 • first, the preparation stage involves both ncb and ecb staff as well as the eurosystem committees. the aim being to gather information and agree on technical contributions that may be of relevance for the decision - making process. the exchange of information within the eurosystem has been crucial in this respect. in this context, committees provide fora that allow best practices and expertise to be shared at the technical level, foster cooperation within the eurosystem and ensure regular and fruitful interactions between the ecb and the ncb staff. • second, the decision stage involves the executive board and the governing council of the ecb. the executive board prepares the meetings of the governing council. this includes drawing - up the meeting agendas and preparing the necessary documentation. the decisions on all euro area monetary policy related issues are then taken by the governing council. • third, the implementation stage, involves the ncbs implementing the decisions in a decentralised manner and ensuring that the governing council ’ s guidelines are followed. in this context, ncbs have been fully involved in the development of the eurosystem ’ s infrastructure and in the implementation of monetary policy, thereby contributing their valuable expertise and experience in running the daily tasks and operations of a central bank. in particular, ncbs play an important role in eurosystem tasks that require a high degree of specialised expertise. let me explain this in more detail using the area of payment systems as an illustration. for example, target, the real - time gross settlement ( rtgs ) system for the euro, started operations in january 1999 at the same time as the launch of the euro. by see p. moutot, a. jung and f. p. mongelli ( 2008 ), “ the workings of the eurosystem, monetary policy preparations and decision - making – selected issues ”, ecb occasional paper no 79. tradition, the ncbs have been actively involved in the operation of payment systems, each in their national environment. the central bank community soon realised that an enhanced target system was needed to maximise efficiency and