has affirmed its commitment to the european union and its single currency union on numerous occasions. and the leadership is working harder than ever to achieve greater coordination in areas such as fiscal policy. a more robust and resilient european union would be a welcome development for the united states. three recent developments are especially encouraging in that regard. first, liquidity concerns have eased significantly following the european central bank ’ s ( ecb ) long - term refinancing operations in december and february. through this program, the ecb provides three - year loans to european banks at low rates, accepting a wide array of collateral in return. hundreds of banks accessed the program in each operation, and the ecb lent nearly €1 trillion in total. as a result, the cost of funding throughout europe has bis central bankers ’ speeches declined since the program began, the euro has stabilized, and the sovereign bond market has improved. changes in the ecb ’ s collateral rules and reserve requirements have also had a positive impact. second, earlier this month, the greek government worked with european leaders and its largest creditors to restructure the bulk of its €206 billion of outstanding privately - held bonds. this not only reduced greece ’ s total indebtedness, it helped calm persistent worries that a disorderly greek default could become the trigger for a global economic crisis. shortly after the debt restructuring, the eu approved a €130 billion aid package for greece. together, these measures will provide key support to greek leaders as they pursue the difficult fiscal reforms that are essential over the long term. third, leaders in most euro area countries have approved a new treaty designed to increase fiscal coordination. the new rules already appear to be making a difference. both spain and italy recently completed 2012 budgets that move their deficits closer to eu targets. further, spain and italy took their fiscal actions in close consultation with finance ministers from other countries in the euro area, demonstrating a healthy ability to work together. while difficult work still lies ahead, countries in the euro area have made meaningful progress toward achieving long - term fiscal sustainability. looking to the future, the difficult work that remains also presents special risks – both for europe and the united states. if europe fails to chart an effective course forward, this could have a number of negative implications here. in particular, there are three areas of potential risk that i would like to highlight for the subcommittee today. first, if economic conditions in europe were to weaken significantly, demand for u. s

dimitar bogov : promoting macedonia ’ s cultural and historical values opening speech by mr dimitar bogov, governor of the national bank of the republic of macedonia, at the opening of the exhibition titled “ wall paintings from the episcopal basilica in stobi ” on the occasion of the international museum day, skopje, 18 may 2012. * * * honorable minister kancheska - milevska, your excellency, ambassador wohlers, distinguished guests, this year we celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the monetary independence of the republic of macedonia, recalling with respect the period of creation of the macedonian denar and the processes that led to the proclamation of the monetary sovereignty of our country on april 26, 1992. undoubtedly, this is an opportunity when it is necessary to say that in the past twenty years, the main carrier of these processes – the national bank of the republic of macedonia, with all its capacity has adequately served the new democratic society, as an institution that is responsible for maintaining the stability of the macedonian national currency and its monetary and financial system. besides its primary activity, in the past 10 years, our institution has sought to continuously and systematically contribute to the preservation, care and promotion of cultural and historical values of macedonia. as it is actually typical for most central banks in the world, through the work of its museum, the national bank has gradually established itself as an important cultural treasury of the numismatic cultural legacy of civilizations that existed in this region, thus giving its contribution to the enrichment of the macedonian society with permanent and irreplaceable values ; those without which common knowledge is doomed to poverty, without which we would not be able to recognize and understand the universal values of civilization that have been mounting for centuries in the long civilization pace of human existence. the national bank of the republic of macedonia, together with the national institution stobi, have decided to approach the macedonian public exactly on may 18th – the international museum day, jointly organizing this important exhibition, where for the first time an extremely valuable cultural heritage is presented to the public. it includes 19 unique fresco - fragments from the inner walls of the old episcopal basilica in stobi, dating from the 4th century bc, which the history of art considers an exclusivity of paramount importance, given that this kind of artistic creation is not present in the wider range of the european mainland. within the exhibition, the curators from the national institution stobi enabled us to closely look at the details of