the criteria for joining. the euro area is not a closed shop. there are certain standards, laid down in the maastricht criteria, that have to be met in order to join the euro area. the introduction of the euro in slovenia was a great success and i am sure that the euro area will continue to expand. the value of the euro has increased and the central banks of china, russia and countries in the middle east are increasing their component ratio of euro, and there are now more bonds and currency issued in euro than in us dollars ; do you think that the euro could replace the us dollar as a key currency? as far as the exchange rate is concerned, i will say what i signed at the meeting of the g7 on 14 april, namely that “ excess volatility and disorderly movements in exchange rates are undesirable for economic growth. ” i will also repeat that i have noted that the japanese authorities have said they believe the japanese economy to be on a sustainable path of recovery and that the exchange rates should reflect these economic fundamentals. as regards the use of the euro at a global level, the ecb is neutral. we do not campaign for the international use of the euro. that has been our position since the euro was introduced, and that remains our position. do you think that the rise of the newly emerging countries such as china, india and russia, and the rapid increase in oil money, will make it difficult to maintain the stability of the existing global financial systems? what are your views on establishing a new international framework such as the “ plaza agreement ”? first, china already takes part in the g7 / g8 meetings when appropriate. and, second, together with all our partners of the g7, i believe that “ in emerging economies with large and growing current account surpluses, especially china, it is desirable that their effective exchange rates move so that necessary adjustments will occur. ”

project currently stand? sepa was launched end - january 2008 ; six months after the launch, some changes are already visible. the number of sepa credit transfers is increasing though still low given that we are in a piloting phase. work in the other fields is advancing well. there are some concerns on the launch of the sepa direct debit but i believe that the market will live up to its commitments and solutions to all remaining issues will be found, especially now since the epc has agreed on some improvements in the sepa direct debit schemes to meet endusers ’ demands. the ecb is convinced that the sdd plays a crucial part in realising the sepa and will contribute to making it a successful project. the timely transposition of the psd into national law and clarity on the interchange fee for sdd from a competition authority perspective, are crucial to address most of the issues. the remaining problems regarding direct debits should be solvable, be it via upgrading the sdd rulebooks or via additional optional services offered by banks. but let ’ s be clear : stalling does not lead anywhere – it ’ s a loss of time and makes competitors who have started to act to be even stronger. running parallel systems is very costly. therefore a clear vision and a clear commitment is needed for the realisation of harmonisation and standardisation in retail payments across europe. how do cards and sepa go together? the sepa project includes a particular challenge. card payments represent an essential part of retail payments, which make the standardistation and the creation of card schemes are important element of the sepa project. over the last few years, volumes of cashless payments in the european union ( eu27 ) have increased by 7 % per year. 5 in europe card payments achieved the highest volume growth and have become the most widely used payment instrument after banknotes and coins, with over 25 billion payments per year. there is a lot to win in the field of cards. a bird ’ s eye view on the european card market, however, shows very fragmented national markets, especially regarding card schemes – even though for processors, integration has started. the market is divided into a number of national schemes and international schemes. but let me just add that the uk belongs to the few countries, 6 where one international scheme offers also the services of a national scheme. atkearney ( 2008 ) : the sepa shake out! challenges in cards and payments. other examples are austria