atlantic. the question of harmonising the accounting rules in europe and the united states is an important one that must also be addressed from the perspective of a fully harmonised global market for financial services. the dubai crisis has caused large disparities in terms of country risk in the euro area. greece and ireland are currently facing long - term rates which are markedly higher than in countries with european core investors. are you concerned about the situation in these countries? the dubai crisis is an illustration of the extent to which the global financial markets are nervous because you only need one crisis, relatively modest, to cause them to worry again. this makes me all the more convinced that we must continue to work together to increase the robustness and resilience of the international financial system. those who believe that such efforts are futile and that we have returned to a scenario whereby it is “ business as usual ” are seriously mistaken. that said, i am pleased about the decisions taken by the governments in the context of the ecofin council with regard to the proposal by the european commission to remedy the situation regarding their public finances. it is essential that european governments fully restore confidence in their ability to manage their public finances in a sound and sustainable manner in the long term. this confidence is a very important factor in the recovery. as regards greece, which you mentioned, i shall simply reiterate what i said before the european parliament : “ given the severity of the situation, i am confident that the greek government will take the necessary and courageous measures in the near future. ” the euro has remained relatively robust against the us dollar despite the fact that the us authorities say they are in favour of a strong dollar. are you happy with the us behaviour on the currency markets? as regard the euro, and particularly with regard to the relationship with the us dollar, i repeat what i said at the press conference following the last meeting of the governing council of the european central bank. i think it is very important that the us authorities, the secretary of the treasury, as well as the chairman of the federal reserve have made it clear that a strong dollar is in the interest of the united states. a strong dollar vis - a - vis the large floating currencies is also in the interest of the stability and prosperity of the global economy. finally, what has helped you the most in managing the crisis? what has been your goal? i believe that above all, for the ecb and the entire eurosystem, it has been our

products and for asset - backed commercial paper to european money markets, how did the ecb react? the liquidity squeeze in the interbank money markets that was observed in early august 2007 was triggered by the larger - than - expected funding liquidity needs, or perceived needs, of some banks, while at the same time those financial institutions that had liquidity balances tended to hoard them because of uncertainty about their future liquidity position and increased counterparty risk. in the face of these information asymmetries and heightened uncertainty, the normal functioning of the euro money market was severely impaired. the ecb therefore stepped in and addressed these tensions, initially by launching a series of overnight fine - tuning operations, and subsequently by taking four specific measures to ensure that very short term money market rates remained close to the ecb ’ s policy rate and to contain upward pressures in the longer - term money market. first, the ecb shifted the time pattern of liquidity provision through its main refinancing operations in the interbank money market by providing more liquidity at the beginning of the reserve maintenance period and less towards the end of the period. this “ frontloading ” led to more balanced liquidity conditions and helped to keep very short - term rates close to the key policy rate, without changing the overall amount of liquidity provided. second, responding to banks ’ greater preference for assuring the fulfilment of their liquidity needs on a longer - term basis, the ecb increased the share of refinancing provided via three - month longer - term refinancing operations and reduced the share provided via the one - week main refinancing operations. again, the total amount of outstanding refinancing remained unchanged ; however, the average maturity was extended. third, the ecb undertook a number of specific measures designed to address expected money market tensions around the year - end. and fourth, to ensure the availability of funding denominated in us dollars, the ecb joined a concerted action with other central banks, notably the federal reserve system in december 2007, the aim of which was to improve global funding conditions. it may be useful to clarify that the eurosystem requires adequate collateral from its counterparties for its credit operations. adequate collateral in this context has two dimensions : first, the eurosystem should be protected from incurring losses in its credit operations. second, sufficient collateral should be available to counterparties, so that the eurosystem