economies ( in particular montenegro ) have also illustrated, the unilateral adoption of the euro is not the magic tool that automatically provides protection against the impact of external shocks. concluding remarks let me conclude my remarks. the cee countries have already made significant progress with respect to their catching - up with the euro area. however, some of the countries have been severely hit by the financial crisis. this clearly has an impact on the state of the convergence process of the cee countries and has potentially moved euro adoption further into the future. the timetables of the euro adoption have to be carefully assessed, given particularly the large uncertainties that are associated with the current economic and financial situation. one thing, however, needs to be very clear. the financial crisis has not changed our policy for adopting the euro. therefore, to prematurely adopt the euro, in particular if not accompanied by a sufficient degree of sustainable convergence, is certainly not a solution to overcome the impact of the crisis. only a credible euro adoption strategy helps stabilising the economies, also with respect to the crisis impact. achieving sustainable convergence can be seen as an important anchor and an opportunity for the cee countries to adopt economic policies that will eventually lead to the successful adoption of the euro, hopefully not in the too distant future.

and the incidence of second - round effects on domestic wages and prices. second, in the light of the recent financial turmoil, we will analyse the state of transmission of our monetary impulses by the financial system and in particular by banks. if either of these two factors entail downward risks to price stability, we will not hesitate to act. in parallel, other policies should help to put the euro area economy on firmer grounds. it is becoming clearer and clearer that fiscal policies should support the economic recovery through public investment and lower taxation. in addition, the ongoing cyclical recovery should be supported by effective structural policies. in particular, actions to improve the business environment, including the provision of an adequate public infrastructure, are vital to increase productive investment, boost job creations and raise productivity. compliance with the rules of the stability and growth pact remains essential to maintain confidence in the fiscal framework. the agreement on net financial assets let me conclude by turning briefly to the recent decision to publish the agreement of net financial assets, also known as anfa. this is another step to live up to our commitment to be accountable and transparent, both towards you as parliament and towards the public at large. the anfa is an agreement between the ecb and the euro area national central banks – the ncbs. it ensures that monetary policy is unaffected by ncb operations related to their national, non - monetary policy tasks. the right to perform such tasks dates back to the start of economic and monetary union. at that time, the founding member states decided to centralise only central bank functions and tasks that are necessary to conduct a single monetary policy. all other tasks remained with the ncbs. such national, non - monetary policy tasks include managing the ncbs ’ remaining foreign reserves – including gold – after the transfer of foreign reserves to the ecb, managing some non - monetary policy portfolios including those related to pension funds for their employees, or providing payment services to national governments. when the ncbs hold portfolios not related to monetary policy as part of their national tasks, these portfolios are financed either by central bank money provided by the ncbs or by nonmonetary liabilities. this does not interfere with monetary policy as long as it is limited to less than the amount of banknotes needed by the public. this limit ensures that banks still have to borrow from the eurosystem at the monetary policy rate set by the governing council. here is where the anfa comes in. its purpose is to limit