in this field. however, there is another, wider concept of proportionality that we should consider : that is, proportionality in the sense, not merely of a technical standard of administrative law, but of a broad constitutional ideal, which should guide all official actions in the union. this wider notion, which is more congenial to the thinking of economists like me, is explicitly entrenched in the text of the treaty on european union. indeed, article 5 of the treaty states clearly that “ [ t ] he use of union competences is governed by the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality ”. the same provision further clarifies that, “ [ u ] nder the principle of proportionality, the content and form of union action shall not exceed what is necessary to achieve the objectives of the treaties. ” the provision was inserted in the treaty primarily with the intention to regulate the union ’ s legislative and general policy - making measures, rather than the administrative decisions, through which the european rules, standards or policies are applied to individual cases at the supranational and national levels. 1 / 5 bis central bankers'speeches this wider concept of proportionality as a regulative principle of european standard - setting, requires careful and responsive policy - and rule - making. more to the point, it requires the selection of the least burdensome or restrictive approach in order to achieve our regulatory objectives. this can only be achieved through a careful balancing of interests – the promotion of public objectives versus the rights and legitimate interests of private individuals and enterprises ; the exercise of european competencies versus the preservation of the policy autonomy of the member states – and the weighting of the potential costs against the benefits of particular policies and tools. to put it differently, proportionality requires properly calibrated european responses to well - identified problems and is inimical to heavy - handed, blanket, one - size - fit - all approaches to legislation and regulation. in this demanding but valuable sense, proportionality is closely linked to notions of equality and equity, also including the notion of proportional equality, which requires us to treat similar cases in the same manner, but to differentiate between dissimilar ones. it is also linked to the need for respect for fundamental rights and treaty freedoms, including the right to property and the freedom of economic activity. proportionality, then, stands here as a short form for a constellation of closely related principles and values, which, we, as regulators and supervisors,

the positive outcome of the stress tests, the major challenges are still there : for instance the drastic reduction of the non - performing loans and the ability to provide liquidity to the greek real economy ( new loans to businesses ). in view of the end of the current programme in august 2018 and a return to european normality, the greek people look into the future with optimism, which i also share, provided that there is no complacency, no slackening of effort, and authorities do not let up on reforms, especially in the public sector, cutting red tape, etc. the overwhelming majority in greece still want to be within the core of europe. this is our legacy as a nation that goes back to our history and our tradition. after all, the name of our continent europe comes, in the first place, from an ancient greek mythological figure, a beautiful young lady with whom zeus, the father of the twelve greek gods, fell in love, but since she was refusing his advances, he decided to transform himself into a bull to catch her and bring her to mount olympus, the mountain of gods in northern greece, where i come from! concluding remarks in closing, i understand that public sentiment in central and eastern european countries is not very strong right now in favour of joining the single currency and that euro area accession is seen by some as a byword for the loss of sovereignty. the crisis has certainly made the euro area look less attractive for future members. in my view, the issue is ultimately, on the one hand, for the eurozone to persist with completing the emu project and, on the other hand, for candidate countries to be at a par with the rest of the eurozone on all fronts ( sustainable convergence ). after all, cee member states have considerable discretion over the timing of their accession into the euro area. amid the uncertainty about the euro area ’ s architecture, a wait - and - see approach for final outcomes is perhaps the safe - bet policy, given that any decision to adopt the single currency, once made, is irreversible, since the costs of exit by far outweigh the benefits. thank you very much for your attention.