bostjan vasle : introducing the euro in times of high inflation - case of croatia opening speech by mr bostjan vasle, governor of bank of slovenia, at the lecture " introducing the euro in times of high inflation - case of croatia ", ljubljana, 20 april 2023. * * * the spoken word applies. dear ladies and gentlemen, dear guests, welcome to the second lecture of foreign central bank governors this year. after hosting the governor of the central bank of estonia in march, today we have with us the governor of the croatian national bank, boris vuji. just a few months after croatia became the 20th country to join the euro area, governor vuji will present croatia's path to and the first experiences with adoption of the euro. with croatia's entry into the euro area this year, the euro has become the official currency for 347 million people. euro area enlargement adds to the role of the euro and the european economy, which is particularly important at a time of increased geopolitical tensions. the euro remains the second most widely used currency for trade invoicing, crossborder lending and foreign exchange trading, and holds the second largest share of global foreign exchange reserves, after the us dollar. even at a time of high inflation, support for the single currency among the eu population remains high, at over 70 % according to this winter's eurobarometer. with support at 87 %, slovenians are among the biggest supporters of the euro. * * * while we can draw several parallels between the introduction of the euro in slovenia in 2007 and in croatia this year, there are also some interesting differences. ( i ) slovenia was the first of the so - called new eu member states to adopt the euro. the introduction of the euro was accompanied by broad support in politics and the professional community, which contributed to an exceptionally high 72 % acceptance of the euro among the population. 1 / 3 bis - central bankers'speeches the fact that slovenians, as savers and consumers, were well familiar with the euro also boded well. in addition, it is worth highlighting the importance of thorough tree - year preparations for the euro adoption, in terms of technical, managerial and communication aspects. in croatia, there were more divisions and doubts about euro adoption, which made the determination and public engagement of the central bank and the government even more significant. ( ii ) for slovenia, one of the major challenges in meeting the criteria for joining the euro

most evidently in problems in the banking system. these revealed not only the weaknesses in our own banking and economic model, but also in the architecture of the euro area. at banka slovenije, and moreover throughout the european union, we took advantage of the crisis to build up our policies. supervision of the banking system became more 1 / 3 bis - central bankers'speeches unified, and conducted on the same principles across the entire euro area. banking supervision policy became part of the common interest, similarly to what monetary policy had been from the very outset. financial stability in general is getting more and more attention, and like the majority of central banks, banka slovenije has assumed a leading role in maintaining the stability of the financial system. the dialogue at eu and euro area level was formalised with new institutions, and it soon became self - evident that banka slovenije, and with it slovenia, was a full and equal partner in this process. ladies and gentlemen, as the watchful guardian of the value of your money, for almost a decade and a half banka slovenije has helped to shape euro area monetary policy as part of the eurosystem, and has provided for a stable and stimulating environment for more than 340 million citizens to live and work in. in our mission we consistently uphold the principles of professionalism, accountability and transparency. we are well aware that trust as a fundamental value of an institution can only be earned through the consistency and diligence of its actions. we are therefore proud to have been a major factor in seeing support for the emu and the euro as our single currency rise in recent years. over the last five years slovenia has always been in the top three countries for public support for the euro. moreover, that more than 90 % of slovenes are in favour of the euro shows that the single currency is something that binds us most strongly as citizens. the months ahead will be a period of intense challenges, for slovenia and for europe as a whole, and also at the global level. the most obvious is the health crisis, where we will have to make further adjustments to living under the threat of the epidemic. next comes the economic challenge, when after the period of large - scale measures comes to an end we will face the question of what the new reality is. the ecb and banka slovenije put a number of major measures in place at the very outbreak of the crisis to mitigate its impact