in a certain area. we also hope that next year, along with the transposition of the updated capital requirements directive, our arsenal will be complemented by the possibility to impose additional sectoral capital requirements for commercial banks. they would allow increasing capital requirements for separate loan types – for instance, to purchase housing registered in a particular city. and finally : both the nature and economy love balance or, in other words, one ’ s misfortune can turn out to be another ’ s find. in this case, it also cannot be ruled out that the current health emergency may give an impetus to the housing market in some respect. for instance, an increase in remote work gives rise to a need for a separate working space, which may encourage households to look for more spacious homes, while savings made due to restrictions on travel or leisure may encourage investment in housing. i understand that such considerations may sound overly optimistic and reassuring, thus i would like to add a warning : it is not yet time to pop the champagne cork. we are now in our second lockdown, which may not be the last one. this time, forecasting its fallout on the economy and, simultaneously, on the real estate market is definitely not a simple task. meanwhile, there is, unfortunately, an extremely wide array of risks unfolding before our eyes. for example, will the housing market maintain its high resilience level? or will households be able to successfully meet their existing liabilities? the pandemic and the imposed economic restrictions have hit catering, accommodation and travel - related services particularly hard. it is true that these activities account for a minor share of gdp, comprising less than 2 %. however, these sectors typically employ younger staff aged between 18 and 35. and it is young people who are the most active homebuyers or tenants. dear all, the commercial real estate market showed signs of uncertainty even before the second lockdown. and the recent trends indicate that the outlook of this segment remains uncertain. 2 / 4 bis central bankers'speeches the pandemic may tilt the scales to the benefit of the housing market, yet the implications for the commercial real estate market will often be the opposite. for instance, the vacancy rate of office space in vilnius is projected to increase substantially next year, which will certainly be mostly determined by the shift to remote work. moreover, the pandemic has disrupted brick - and - mortar trade and accelerated a shift towards electronic commerce, which adds to the pressure in some

the reform of eu fiscal rules and the enactment of the budgetary instrument for convergence and competitiveness, approved in december 2019 as the embryo of an euro area common fiscal capacity, could be the next steps forward to avoid these constraints. they will reduce the risks of fragmentation, alleviating the pressure on monetary policy, and moving towards a sounder interaction between policies. 2 / 4 bis - central bankers'speeches it is always important to recall that the first time the euro support among europeans increased in the context of a crisis was in 2020. and this was no coincidence, it was a clear understanding by our fellow citizens that for the first time ever in a crisis we were acting as a union. a union with a purpose, a union in which people could understand the continuity across policies, both across each country and the eu, but also across the different economic policy domains. and that includes macroprudential policy. because monetary policy effectiveness also depends on an increasingly important role of macroprudential policy. the scope for interaction between these policies is large, as they share common transmission mechanisms and can affect each other's objectives. the ecb's review of the monetary policy strategy recognized that financial stability is a precondition for price stability. macroprudential policy should be the first line of defence against financial stability risks, notably in a monetary union where financial cycles are not fully synchronized. monetary policy is too " blunt " to deal with financial stability effectively. the relevance of the interactions between monetary and macroprudential policies cannot be played down. monetary policy decisions affect the credit granted to the economy and, therefore, can spur " side effects " – positive or negative – on financial stability. on the other side, macroprudential policies, while containing financial stability risks, may reduce the length and the magnitude of economic expansions by inhibiting credit to finance productive economic activities. the arguments for using monetary policy to explicitly and automatically deal with the build - up of risks are weak. leaning against the wind may not be desirable as a general principle, even if keeping flexibility may be warranted to deal with specific situations. if monetary policy is used in a systematic way, it could lead to a general loss of its effectiveness and credibility. however, monetary policy has played a crucial role in supporting financial stability in several critical occasions. since the great financial crisis, central banks have increasingly recognised the importance of providing liquidity and making sure that the transmission mechanism operates properly. more recently, the introduction