maintaining a capacity to trace and remedy faults. the ultimate purpose of the riksbank ’ s role as overseer of financial stability is to prevent both conventional and financial crises in the financial system. in concrete terms, the work entails following developments in the financial sector in the short term, primarily in the major banks, and working with structural changes, crisis management and regulation. an important part of the riksbank ’ s work in this field concerns cooperation with other authorities and companies in the financial sector. the importance of cooperation between authorities and private agents there is considerable common interest in creating resilience in the financial sector, which is based on the agents ’ dependence on one another. the entire system is dependent on the general public having confidence in the payment system as a whole. cooperation between the agents in the financial markets is necessary to find joint solutions and to be able to benefit from economies of scale. moreover, it is important to ensure joint basic conditions, such as access to electricity, telecommunications, fuel and water. the riksbank has actively conducted discussions in various contexts for some years now to disseminate information on how the payment system functions and how individual agents ’ attitudes to business continuity and crisis recovery planning affect the system as a whole. these discussions have mainly been conducted in three contexts. one of them is the cooperation for economic security ( soes ), which is called together by the swedish emergency management agency and where the participants include the riksbank, finansinspektionen ( the swedish financial supervisory authority ), the swedish social insurance administration and the national labour market board. another is the financial sector ’ s private - public sector cooperation body ( fspos ) that is called together by finansinspektionen and consists of representatives of the riksbank, finansinspektionen, the swedish bankers ’ association, independent savings banks, securities companies and insurance companies. the third discussion forum i would like to mention is the reference group for the payment system called together by the riksbank and consisting of representatives from vpc ab, bankgirocentralen, stockholm stock exchange, the major banks and the swedish bankers ’ association. part of the work in these working groups has entailed charting the flows and the infrastructure of the payment system. the charting process began as an internal project at the riksbank, with a general review of the payment system ’ s basic conditions, agents and services. this has since functioned as a basis

willem f duisenberg : perspectives on eu enlargement speech by dr willem f duisenberg, president of the european central bank, on the occasion of receiving an honorary doctorate from imadec university, vienna, 14 october 2002. * * * dear klaus, ladies and gentlemen, it is a great privilege for me to be awarded an honorary doctorate today by such a distinguished institution, imadec university, in austria. it is also a great pleasure to hear the kind words of my colleague and friend, governor klaus liebscher. when listening to klaus liebscher, who has indeed studied my curriculum vitae in great depth, shakespeare's words came to my mind and i thought for a moment he had come to bury me, although he has actually come to praise me. i am afraid that this is the fate of anybody whose retirement comes within sight. nothing but good should be said of the dead, they say. considering that i am still alive, it is even more gratifying to hear nothing but good things about myself ; perhaps with the exception of my addiction to tobacco - an addiction that klaus and i happen to share. there is one thing i should like to emphasise in the laudation. as klaus liebscher has just said, my career has benefited from a “ summe von zufalligkeiten ” that i have been lucky enough to encounter throughout my professional life. hard work, clear objectives and a predilection for one's profession are necessary but not always sufficient conditions for success ; being in the right place at the right time is likely to provide momentous opportunities that may contribute to making anyone's career more challenging. however, in my reply to klaus liebscher's laudation, i should like to leave the past at rest and focus on the future, just as klaus has done in the second part of his speech. i should particularly like to make a link between klaus's comments about the importance of stability - oriented macroeconomic policies - to which i fully subscribe - and one of the key challenges the european union is facing, enlargement, most likely involving ten new member countries. the enlargement of the european union is a subject that has received much interest in this country in particular, given its proximity to central and eastern europe. indeed, the accession of ten new countries will now place austria in the geographical heart of the european union, although austria has already been at the heart of the european integration