is naturally not shorn of all its weight just because we are outside the euro area. as regards economic policy – the only area of which i have direct experience – the pattern is clear. it surprised me how quickly the euro countries saw themselves as a single unit and the ways in which this altered the agenda for our committee meetings. in that the finance ministers of the euro countries have formed a separate group, euro 11, to some extent sweden is excluded from the interesting discussions. the community agenda is being constructed in the light of needs among the eleven members of the euro area. the matters of economic policy that are up for eu discussions are also more specific than before. how is economic policy to be formulated? how can the labour market be made to function better? at the european central bank we have missed the train on which the participating central banks designed their monetary policy strategy and decided how the functions of the system of central banks are to be performed. if we join the monetary union in the future, influencing the procedures of the ecb and the formation of monetary policy will be more difficult. in the economic domain the european union is also increasingly tending to establish joint european positions, for example on such matters as the crises in russia and brazil, the role of the imf, etc. here, too, i consider we are in a formative phase. guidelines are now being drawn up for how europe is to be represented on international bodies and in the work of developing a new international financial structure. the questions include the future status of the g7, g10, g33 and other informal groups. in these contexts we are now becoming rather isolated. conclusion now for a brief summary and some conclusions. emu is a part of the effort that has been in progress for more than five decades to bring the countries of europe closer together. today the monetary union is perhaps the most important eu project and as a member of the community we cannot disregard it. if sweden chooses to remain outside, it will ultimately be difficult to get the participating countries to understand our actions. the fact that the monetary union is a major component of a larger process of integration means that we cannot expect to get simple answers to our questions by adopting an attitude of wait - and - see. assessing the project over a complete business cycle certainly has its advantages but the prevailing uncertainty is costly. investments are postponed or shelved. twin systems have to be maintained. i am convinced, moreover, that new questions will arise all the time. we shall

ben s bernanke : brief overview of the 4th conference of the international research forum on monetary policy ( welcoming remarks ) welcoming remarks by mr ben s bernanke, chairman of the board of governors of the us federal reserve system, at the fourth conference of the international research forum on monetary policy, washington dc, 1 december 2006. * * * vice president papademos, ladies and gentlemen, i would like to welcome you to the fourth conference of the international research forum for monetary policy. the forum is one outgrowth of the increased interaction between central banks and academic institutions that, in my opinion, benefits both groups. it is a true joint effort involving the european central bank, the federal reserve board, the bmw institute for german and european studies at georgetown university, and the centre for financial studies at goethe university in frankfurt. you have a very full agenda for the next two days. the topics represent a good mix of theoretical work as well as empirical work based on both calibration and econometric estimation. you are beginning with two papers that emphasize the importance of inflation expectations. other papers examine such topics as the application of search theory, the functioning of mortgage markets, the theoretical analysis of optimal monetary policy, and empirical research on price - setting. there is a lot of intellectual food on the table. bon appetit!