slowdown in trade weighed on the most important channels of monetary union benefits. a third reason is that our domestic policies have not always been optimal : the reform momentum stalled and long - term growth was not always a priority. certainly some of our panellists will be exploring these aspects further. at this point, i would like to recall slovakia ’ s successful preparations for the euro. while the euro was, and still is, a political project – both in the eu and in slovakia – it is also based on sound economic fundamentals. from a political economy point of view, our euro adoption process was a role model of economic policymaking. we analysed the costs and benefits very deeply – and given the information set we had at the time, most of the analyses are still valid. all the analyses were openly published. we discussed the project with all relevant stakeholders and tried to make sure no one was left behind. we set a target date for euro adoption and ended up being one of the very few countries that never shifted the target adoption date. and today, ten years on, we are looking back with an open mind to see which of the expectations were fulfilled and which were not. as you well know, the final decision on our euro accession was made in july 2008, just before the global financial crisis broke out in september. we could not have hoped for better timing. the euro shielded us from the initial hit of the crisis, while in other emerging markets, exchange rates plummeted. the drop in demand and in oil and food prices at the end of 2008 meant there were no price pressures in early 2009. thus, we were maybe the first country in which the euro was adopted without consumers perceiving any price increases. had we not adopted the euro in 2009, we would not have been able to meet the maastricht criteria for the next 4 to 5 years, as the government deficit increased substantially. you might say we were lucky, but i would rather concur with the great biologist and chemist louis pasteur that fortune favours the prepared. shortly after our entry, slovakia and the rest of the euro area were faced with the most severe financial crisis in european history. the measures taken by the eurosystem were unprecedented and the easing cycle that started in 2008 is only now coming to an end. outside of japan, this is probably the longest easing cycle in the history of central banking. the euro, now twenty years old, can certainly be described as a mature currency

ivan sramko : euro implementation in slovakia speech by mr ivan sramko, governor of the national bank of slovakia, at the opening of the european central bank exhibition in the national bank of slovakia, bratislava, 24 september 2008. * * * i am pleased to welcome you at the present ceremonial opening of the exhibition of the european central bank about euro and on the eve of a big international conference on euro implementation in slovakia. it is more than symbolic that this exhibition is located just here, on the grounds of the national bank of slovakia. already from the very beginning, when the initiatives for euro implementation in our country were only emerging, the nbs several times declared its support for the entry into the monetary union as soon as practicable. our recommendations were based on serious analysis a€ “ we were assessing the readiness of our economy for the eu membership, we were evaluating how quickly the slovak economy would be able to approach the economies of the countries within eurozone, we were assessing the possibilities to comply with the maastricht criteria from the points of time and costs. of course, we were considering both favourable and unfavourable impacts of our future membership in eurozone. according to all the analysis available the benefits were clearly prevailing. the development of euro implementation strategy in 2003 and later on the creation of the national plan of euro implementation in 2005 followed. the predictions and analysis were the basis for setting the economic policy that ensured smooth preparation of our economy to euro. at present, all the decisions and assessments are known and with the new year the common currency will become a part of our everyday life. by accepting the euro as the national currency slovakia will become the member of a strong club of monetary union states and a new space will be opened for our country for its stabile economic development which will be reflected in other aspects of our lives. hundreds of people from various institutions have been participating at various projects relating to the access of euro. many of them have been the employees of the national bank of slovakia. i would like to thank all of them for their efforts and persistency by which they significantly contributed to the fact than on january 1, 2009, slovakia will become the 16th country of eurozone. i would also like to thank the colleagues from the ecb and partner central banks for their support and co - operation. ladies and gentlemen, i believe we will all get used to euro in the course of time and that euro will become a natural part of our lives. i wish