requires our support if it does not emerge by itself. integration and harmonization are intended to promote economic well - being as increasingly integrated financial markets that ignore national boundaries broaden the geographic domain in which financial institutions and their customers make decisions. competition now has an inescapable global dimension, even for many small businesses. ladies and gentlemen, i do not have to explain to you neither the benefits of intense competition, nor the risks to those who do not adapt. we in the eurosystem want to support the private sector ’ s adaptation and success by promoting integration and harmonization of the financial system. both of these enable the realisation of economies scales ; they foster competition and the expansion of markets, and facilitate a more efficient allocation of betterpriced capital. as you may recall, the european financial integration objective was addressed in detail in lisbon in march 2000, where eu leaders adopted a ten - year programme ( the lisbon agenda ). the financial services action plan consists of a set of 42 measures, designed to strengthen the european financial industry by encouraging free market access, competition and the creation of more efficient markets. some of these measures took the shape of eu law, either as a regulation or as a directive, such as the markets in financial instruments directive ( mifid ) and the collateral directive. these have undoubtedly liberated competitive forces, with positive results for europe. other initiatives were allocated to the users of markets. in particular, providers of securities market infrastructure have adopted, with encouragement from commissioner mr mccreevey, the code of conduct, in which they commit to meet certain standards in the areas of price transparency, open access and interoperability, and service unbundling. while there has been some progress, the jury is still out on whether providers will co - operate enough to achieve the high levels of interoperability required for an integrated infrastructure. as alexander schaub from the european commission said several years ago in dublin, “ financial integration is not simply a question of turning up and declaring the single market open for business ”. 1 we need to accelerate the harmonization, or removal, of issues which are barriers to cross - border business – such as market practices, discriminatory provisions and domestic protectionist barriers – so that what is now cross - border business in europe becomes truly domestic. indeed, we have already helped, in various ways, in the removal of the barriers to efficient and competitive markets identified by the giovannini group, for example by providing advice to the european

is full of many successful examples, probably the most so far in the world history, of application of wide range of prudential measures, modifications in the standard set of instruments and implementation of nonstandard measures of monetary policy. the need of comprehensive risks monitoring in the economy and greater flexibility concerning the intensity and the type of measures, taking into account the ultimate monetary objectives, is probably one of the major lessons from the crisis. the economic theory clearly refers to the fact that the financial system is a relevant factor for economic growth, and the new message, clearly sent by the recent crisis, as the president of the bundesbank, weidmann, once said in one of his recent addresses, 1 is that there is a need of “ well designed regulatory reform ”. otherwise, a financial system which is developed and widely globalized today could become an obstacle for the economic growth. thus, even though the crisis is still present in our everyday life, the financial institutions have already been facing new banking standards, and the national regulators seek to incorporate them in the national regulation. the debt crisis in the euro area resulted in establishment of new fiscal framework of the european union and emphasized the need of fiscal consolidation. fiscal imbalances are not sustainable on a long run, which is a postulate that also applies to the countries of the region, particularly countries where fiscal consolidation is crucial for maintaining macroeconomic equilibrium. besides the experiences above, during the crisis we also gained many other experiences related to the market sensitivity, the promptness of market response to the changes arising from the development of crisis, and the slow reversible process of regain of confidence among market participants. lessons and experiences learnt from the crisis should help us face future challenges more successfully. jens weidmann, president of the deutsche bundesbank, keynote speech at the frankfurt finance summit, frankfurt, march 2012. bis central bankers ’ speeches conclusion please allow me to ascertain that this crisis broadened our perspectives, imposed new aspects of policy making, and increased our interdependence in the global economy. the south - eastern european countries which have been facing many challenges on their pathway to the european union will probably face new future challenges arising from the current conceptual shifts in the union. however, the countries from south - eastern europe should continue seeking to create sound macroeconomic policies, inevitably accompanied by structural reforms that need to ensure higher structural quality and structural flexibility of economies, which is a sine qua non not only for prompter