nature that it should be possible to convince people of the reform steps necessary to reach them. at the same time, one should not - and cannot - conceal that some of the reforms necessary on the way are painful or unpleasant, and affect various groups of societies in different ways. in such cases of strong conflicts of interest it is all the more important to enter into an active, constructive dialogue and to jointly find acceptable, fair solutions, since, in the long run, no government can afford to ignore public opinion. i think that some of the official documents prepared ahead of the forthcoming european council already touch on the course i have just outlined, but to my feeling not sufficiently. let me conclude by quoting from robert schuman ’ s legendary declaration of may 9, 1950 : “ europe will not be made all at once, or according to a single plan. it will be built through concrete achievements. ” i think that this statement is as true today as it was more than half a century ago. it will become even more relevant in an enlarged european union of 25 member states. while european leadership is becoming ever more important, the european union can function well only if individual players perform their roles responsibly. this applies both to the division of labour between monetary, fiscal and structural policies and to the division of responsibilities between the eu and national governments. sound fiscal policies and a rapid implementation of the lisbon agenda are both areas where individual member states have a pivotal role to play. now it is time to act.

domestic cofinancing funds. possible solutions include e. g. public - private partnerships. finally, the fiscal crisis again underlined the importance of competitiveness ( feldkircher et al., 2010 ), which has to be supported especially by wage developments. however, the wage level remains above the level in cis countries and china. this puts the cesee region under significant pressure. let me conclude and stress that catching - up strategies after the crisis represent an important policy challenge for the next few years. having successfully weathered the storms of the worst financial and economic crisis of postwar history, the euro has been and will continue to be an important anchor of growth in a broader european region. this conference demonstrates readiness to open a discussion about future growth models. we will have a unique possibility to compare views from countries that have not yet joined the eu or the euro area with the experience of eu and euro area members. i am looking very much forward to hearing, discussing and learning from the opinions of policymakers, bankers and academics over the next two days. it is now a great pleasure for me to welcome our first keynote speaker, vitor constancio, the vice president of the european central bank. mr. constancio, the floor is yours! references backe, p. and c. wojcik, ( 2008 ) : “ credit booms, monetary integration and the new neoclassical synthesis ”, journal of banking & finance, 32, 458 – 470. dvorsky, s., scheiber, t. and h. stix ( 2010 ) : “ real effects of crisis have reached cesee households : euro survey shows dampened savings and changes in borrowing behavior. ” focus on european economic integration, oesterreichische nationalbank, no. 2, 79 – 90. ecb ( 2010 ) : the international role of the euro. http : / / www. ecb. int / pub / pdf / other / euro - international - role201007en. pdf. ecb, frankfurt, feldkircher, m., martin, r., and j. worz ( 2010 ) : measuring competition in cesee : stylized facts and determinants across countries and sectors. focus on european economic integration no 3, 38 – 62. fidrmuc, j. and c. hainz ( 2010 ) : default rates in the loan market for smes : evidence from slovakia, economic systems 34 ( 2 )