to the rescue the cesee countries deployed rather large fiscal packages, including i. a. tax cuts, wage subsidies and short - time working schemes. at their maximum usage, such schemes covered, for example, page 2 von 8 up to 15 % of the workforce in slovenia and slovakia, up to 20 % in romania and about one - third in croatia. of course, the size of fiscal packages varied according to the fiscal space available. monetary policy reacted as well. in several countries quantitative easing via outright government bond purchases emerged as an important pillar of monetary policy. moreover, macroprudential measures were adopted that cushioned the impact of the crisis on both banks and borrowers. the cesee countries also introduced moratoria which played an important role in administering – metaphorically speaking – first aid. since the moratoria only provided temporary relief, they have since been extended and better targeted. however, it was not only domestic policies that came to the rescue, but also international cooperation and liquidity support which were negotiated in a timely manner by international financial institutions, such as the imf and the ebrd, as well as with the ecb. regarding the latter, let me draw your attention to the liquidity arrangements between the ecb and the cesee countries, including bilateral swap and repo lines and the newly established precautionary backstop facility eurep. as a case in point, the ecb agreed on new swap lines with bulgaria and croatia in spring and early summer, and on new repo lines with albania, hungary, north macedonia, romania and serbia. this support helped stabilize international capital flows for these countries. the global nature of the crisis impacts on cesee via gvcs and policy spillovers after this brief review of the most recent economic developments in the cesee region, let me come back to the second distinguishing feature of the current crisis – its global nature. this brings me directly to this year ’ s ceei which addresses the topic of “ cesee in the covid - 19 crisis – the role of the eu and global spillovers. ” in this context, i would like to focus on three issues : i ) the role of global value chains ( gvcs ) ; ii ) the role of monetary policy spillovers ; and iii ) the role of eu funds. 1. the role of gvcs first, the cesee countries are among the countries with the highest degree of economic integration through trade, foreign direct investment (

capital share whereas the non - eurosystem national central banks transfer only a small portion - 7 % - of their capital share to the ecb. the interest earned on this contribution is to cover the operational cost of these national central banks ’ participation in the escb. among other things, paying up the capital share of the ecb entitles the national central banks to a share of the ecb ’ s profit. in addition to profit distribution, the capital key also governs the distribution of the income from euro banknotes ( seigniorage income ). 6. experience and outlook after more than five years of success with emu to conclude, ladies and gentlemen, let me turn to the outlook for european monetary policy. now, having completed this round of eu enlargement, it is time to look ahead. i am convinced that all parties involved in the enlargement process are going to benefit from this further integration in europe. the new member states will certainly gain most from their new status, but also the current eu member states, especially those with strong trade links towards the enlargement area as for example austria, will experience positive effects. upon entering the european union, the ten new member states - as i already mentioned - became members of the economic and monetary union. while they will not yet take part in emu to the full extent, as they cannot adopt the euro immediately, this certainly is the next step the countries are aiming for. from the point of view of a country that already enjoys the benefits of the common currency, it is essential that the next step of european integration, the adoption of the euro in the acceding countries, is as well prepared as all past integration steps. the treaty with its convergence criteria provides the right guidance in this direction and the appropriate framework to assess whether a country shows a record of stability - oriented monetary and fiscal policy ( low inflation, low deficits ) and therefore can be regarded as ready for monetary integration. one important convergence requirement in this process is the exchange rate criteria. the exchange rate criterion requires formal participation in the exchange rate mechanism ( erm ) for at least two years linking the specific currency to the euro with no devaluations and without severe tensions. this framework is designed to provide for flexibility and adjustability as well as for enough stability to help anchor expectations. in this view, participation in erm ii should contribute to real and nominal convergence. to ensure a smooth participation in erm ii which is envisaged