were the first former communist countries from central europe to join. their entry bears witness to their transformation over the past two decades. the accession of five countries in ten years also reflects the openness of the euro area. we are not a “ closed shop ”. the euro area is open to all member states of the european union. to join, a member state has to fulfil the maastricht convergence criteria. these relate to inflation, long - term interest rates, exchange rates and state finances. the sustainable fulfilment of the convergence criteria before introducing the euro is in the interest of the countries concerned and of the euro area as a whole. countries should not introduce the euro without having first achieved the necessary economic convergence. a high degree of sustainable economic convergence is required, so that they can be integrated smoothly into the euro area. the convergence criteria are thus an important part of the stability - oriented set of rules of europe ’ s economic and monetary union. the ecb and the european commission report regularly on the extent to which eu member states outside the euro area are meeting the criteria. they serve to maintain the credibility and functioning of economic and monetary union. conclusion ladies and gentlemen, when we look back over the first ten years of the euro, then we can do this with satisfaction. the sceptical forecasts before its birth have not materialised. the euro is a historic achievement. its first ten years have been a success. this is also seen, noticeably so, from outside our continent. europe can be very proud of what it has achieved. the euro has brought many benefits but as i already said, this is no the time for complacency. we have many challenges to cope with in the years to come. some are shared with the other important central banks in the world, like responding to the present economic and financial global situation and drawing all the lessons from the present turmoil. other challenges are specific to the eurosystem, like the completion of the single market with a single currency and a successful enlargement. the people of germany as well as all 329 million fellow citizens in the euro area, can count on the ecb and on the eurosystem. you can count on us to continue providing a solid and reliable anchor of stability and confidence. particularly in the current environment both these elements are essential. i thank you for your attention.

zero but the latest inflation rate is at 0. 2 percent while real interest rates are even slightly above their levels of 2014. nominal interest rates can only increase when our policies become successful in the medium - term and inflation is closer to our official target. in addition to pursuing interest rate policy, the ecb has adopted a number of non - standard monetary policy measures since 2008, including a large scale asset purchase programme, targeting an improvement in financial conditions. the goal of our current monetary policy stance is to incentivise economic risk - taking, in the form of better financing conditions for households and firms. we are, of course, very much aware that side effects are also present, in particular in the form of excessive asset valuations or excessive risk - taking by market participants. we are following these developments very closely, notably in relation to risks posed by asset valuations and the search for yield phenomenon. our assessment at present, monitoring a range of asset markets, is that there are no signs of generalised overvaluations in the euro area. at the same time, the banking sector is more resilient, with higher capital ratios, and financial stability conditions are currently fulfilled in spite of the existent risks. the external environment of the euro area has deteriorated since the asset purchase programme began. in particular, concerns about growth prospects in emerging markets and unfavourable developments in financial and commodity markets have signalled downside risks to the outlook for growth and inflation, relative to the latest ecb staff projection from september. headline inflation is again at zero and core inflation has not consolidated a more positive development, which points to the need to reassess our policy stance in order to achieve our goals by 2017. eurosystem staff is currently analysing the impact of the recent external events on the euro area, in particular on the speed of adjustment of the inflation rate to levels consistent with price stability. the next eurosystem staff forecast, due in december, will help the governing council re - examine whether the current degree of monetary accommodation remains appropriate. further monetary policy options are available should the council determine that changes to the current policy stance are required. the role of other economic policies allow me now to turn to the role of other economic policies. the transmission mechanism from monetary policy decisions to inflation involves the real economy. with a negative output gap there is a “ divine coincidence ” between the objective of normalising inflation and that of expanding aggregate demand to reduce the slack in the economy and put