loans to promote trade in the netherlands. that explains why the bank had a legal form governed by private law. in the early years, it was moulded as a partnership, comprising shares which the owners had paid for in cash. later, in 1863, it was changed to a public limited company. like the commercial banks, the bank was subject to the rules of the civil code. however, the bank displayed public - law features in some respects and these began to predominate over the years. the first of these was that the central government granted the bank the patent to act as circulation bank for a certain period. these patents were subsequently extended repeatedly, while no similar patents were granted to other financial institutions. since its establishment, the bank has hence enjoyed the exclusive right to issue banknotes. in addition, the bank looked after central government payments and receipts, and so became the state ’ s cashier. another important public - law feature was the fact that the bank ’ s powers and tasks had been laid down by law as of 1863. the six earlier versions of the bank act 1998 differed in a number of respects from the regime of ordinary company law. public law overrides private law on these points. the current bank act likewise contains some departures from the civil code, the most important being : • the bank ’ s governing board is appointed by royal decree for a term of seven years ; • the governing board members may be suspended or relieved from office only if they no longer fulfil the conditions required for the performance of their duties or if they have been guilty of serious misconduct ; • the structure regime laid down in book 2 of the dutch civil code does not apply to the bank ; • and the bank is not subject to a number of rules governing annual accounts. it also emerges from the bank act 1998 and the bank ’ s articles of association that all of the bank ’ s tasks are governed by public law. one would be justified in asking whether the bank, in view of its public objectives and tasks, should indeed be incorporated under private law. there are different ways of looking at this issue. on the hand, it could be argued that if activities are carried out as part of a public task, this should not be done in a private - law guise which could make it harder for civilians to recognise state involvement. on the other hand, one could say that in the case of the bank, in part due to its long history as central bank, there is no room

two - year reference period the bulgarian lev did not exhibit any deviation from its central rate due to its currency board arrangement, while the croatian kuna displayed a low degree of volatility and traded close to its central rate. third, all countries, with the exception of croatia, need to adjust their legal framework to comply with the requirements under union law. they must address issues relating to central bank independence and the prohibition on monetary financing. moreover, let me reiterate what i said here in 2020 when i presented our previous ecb convergence report. in the interest of the euro area as a whole and of each euro area accession country, convergence has to be reached on a lasting basis, and not just at a given point in time. this requires ongoing attention, also through our economic governance mechanisms and sound financial sector supervision. in order to achieve a high level of sustainable convergence, our convergence report emphasises the need for lasting policy adjustments in many of the countries under review. specifically, we emphasise that the next generation eu ( ngeu ) package represents a unique opportunity to accelerate the process of euro area convergence, with swift and effective implementation being crucial for its success. the state of economic and legal convergence in croatia let me now focus on croatia, which is the only country that fulfils all economic and legal requirements for adopting the euro and has expressed the wish to do so on 1 january 2023. with regard to price stability, the 12 - month average rate of hicp inflation in croatia was 4. 7 %, which is below the reference value of 4. 9 %. in terms of fiscal sustainability, croatia ’ s general government budget balance was just below the 3 % deficit reference value in 2021, while its debt ratio was above the 60 % reference value but on a downward trajectory. since the inclusion of the croatian kuna in erm ii, its deviations from the agreed central rate have been significantly smaller than the standard fluctuation band of erm ii. long - term interest rates stood at 0. 8 % on average and thus remained below the 2. 6 % reference value for the interest rate convergence criterion. from a legal perspective, croatian law is compatible with the treaties and the statute of the european system of central banks and of the european central bank. what is key is the amendment to the law on croatia ’ s central bank, which prohibits the croatian government from seeking to influence the members of its decision - making bodies. with the entry into force of the close cooperation