no means the only relevant one. switzerland and the united kingdom are both nations with long - standing traditions of global integration and free trade. both nations rely fundamentally on multilateral contractual frameworks such as the one offered by the world trade organization ( wto ). our nations and our peoples live in and benefit from a global and open world. europe is and must remain part of that world. surely an open multilateral global economy must be our primary long - term commitment. the decision to join a regional agreement such as the european monetary union must be evaluated against this global backdrop. i have tried to provide you with a brief sketch of some of the salient macro - economic issues related to such an evaluation. beyond economics, both of our nations have a proud political history. ultimately, the decision to surrender national sovereignty - be it monetary or otherwise - will always be a political one. central bankers may have views as private citizens which they would presumably express at the ballot box. in the public domain, however, their responsibility should be to illustrate potential economic consequences of the ultimately political decision to join or not to join the european monetary union. conclusion ladies and gentlemen, the decision formally to join emu does not appear to be a policy issue of imminent concern in either of our two countries. in the united kingdom, the issue was indefinitely pushed back in time in june of last year. here in switzerland, it is the ratification of the second package of bilateral treaties with the european union that dominates our current external political agenda. since this contractual arrangement with our european partners was designed from the outset as a multi - issue legal document with costs and benefits spread over multiple issues, the swiss government is to be commended for insisting on negotiating the agreement as a comprehensive package and not break it down into multiple single issues. meanwhile, globalization is set to proceed. with the rapid integration of china and india into the global economy and the subsequent reorganization of production processes, global competition is rapidly increasing with changes in relative prices that become increasingly a function of global demand and supply. needless to say, the globalization path will neither be linear nor smooth. there are risks, perhaps none less so than the temptation of governments to resort to protectionism in a misguided effort to respond to the costs associated with global economic integration. in europe, integration is also proceeding. in less than a week, ten countries will join the european union. they will add twenty - five percent to europe ’ s population, twenty - three percent to europe ’ s

jean - pierre roth : the current economic and monetary policy situation summary of a speech by mr jean - pierre roth, chairman of the governing board of the swiss national bank and chairman of the board of directors of the bank for international settlements, at the centro di studi bancari, vezia, 17 september 2007. the complete speech can be found in french on the swiss national banka€™s website ( www. snb. ch ). * * * it is difficult to determine to what extent the turmoil in the us sub - prime mortgage market impacts on the real economy. it has hit switzerland at a time when our economy is in enviably good shape. should the situation in the financial markets not deteriorate any further, it is hard to imagine these factors abruptly slowing economic growth. with its decision to let the libor slide back towards 2. 75 % in the short term, the snb has clearly signalled to the markets an easing of the situation. in switzerland, price stability has been maintained for the past 13 years, economic growth is significantly higher than in the 1990s and our unemployment rate is the lowest of all industrialised countries. it is our goal to preserve this favourable situation.