– as an instrument to gain competitiveness at the detriment of the others. this may fuel reaction and fuel protectionist pressures, also within the eu. little attention has been paid so far to the risks incurred by the single market in current times, as compared to the speculations about the single currency. third, some countries in the euro area have experienced a divergence in terms of growth, price dynamics and public finances. the divergence was partly a consequence of the strong economic growth over the last few years. however, this convergence might have been based, in part, on unsound fundamentals, so some correction was inevitable. correction will be needed particularly in areas related to labour market functioning, public expenditures and financial markets. some observers have said that these corrections could be made more easily if the countries in question were outside the euro area and could devalue their currencies. this conjecture is not only questionable from a theoretical viewpoint, it is irrelevant from a practical perspective. conclusions the next ten years will be quite demanding for the euro, possibly more so than the first ten. adolescence is generally a more tempestuous time than infancy. there is a saying in italian : “ bambini piccoli, problemi piccoli … ”. it means “ small children, small problems … ” implying that as children grow older the problems tend to increase. the founding fathers of the euro knew this. yet, we know from psychology that the first seven years of a person ’ s life are the most important ones and critically influence how he or she will behave as an adult. judging from the first years of the euro, we can be confident that our currency will be up to the challenge. thank you for your attention.

of the steering group as the project enters the next phase. it has been two incredibly educational years, but i think it is still too early for me to decide whether or not i shall support an e - krona for the general public in the future. as has hopefully been clear from my earlier reasoning, this depends on whether it emerges that there are better alternatives to guarantee both the security and efficiency of the payment market. and to answer this, the analysis needs to continue. at the riksbank, we will work in two parallel tracks : partly, we will develop the pilot version of a simpler form of the e - krona and learn the lessons that may be needed if it turns out that an e - krona is to be issued. and partly we will deepen our analysis of the consequences for sweden if the payment market should become entirely privatised. in collaboration with other parties in society, we need to discuss which characteristics should be prioritised for an e - krona and make costbenefit analyses of various alternative solutions to the problems we see that the e - krona could solve. for example, if we conclude that the e - krona is needed for contingency purposes, this may lead to characteristics such as offline functions being prioritised, while other characteristics may be prioritised if other aspects turn out to be more important. as the payment market is an infrastructure that is fundamental for sweden ’ s economy to function, questions of this type must ultimately be determined by our legislators in the riksdag. in our talks with agencies that make state disbursements, we have noticed that these could be rationalised with the help of an ekrona. it is possible that the best route would be to build the e - krona together with others. the riksbank also intends to review the legislative amendments that may need to be implemented to provide us with a clear mandate in the issue. if the e - krona is to be realised, i believe that the best solution would be for the riksbank to provide the e - krona via our balance sheet but that the private sector then be involved in its distribution. private companies are better at handling customer contacts and finding the tailor - made solutions that the general public demands. see report from the swedish retail payments council ( 2018 ) “ a scenario analysis of payments at points of sale and withdrawals from atms in the event of disruptions to the card systems ” sveriges