were the first former communist countries from central europe to join. their entry bears witness to their transformation over the past two decades. the accession of five countries in ten years also reflects the openness of the euro area. we are not a “ closed shop ”. the euro area is open to all member states of the european union. to join, a member state has to fulfil the maastricht convergence criteria. these relate to inflation, long - term interest rates, exchange rates and state finances. the sustainable fulfilment of the convergence criteria before introducing the euro is in the interest of the countries concerned and of the euro area as a whole. countries should not introduce the euro without having first achieved the necessary economic convergence. a high degree of sustainable economic convergence is required, so that they can be integrated smoothly into the euro area. the convergence criteria are thus an important part of the stability - oriented set of rules of europe ’ s economic and monetary union. the ecb and the european commission report regularly on the extent to which eu member states outside the euro area are meeting the criteria. they serve to maintain the credibility and functioning of economic and monetary union. conclusion ladies and gentlemen, when we look back over the first ten years of the euro, then we can do this with satisfaction. the sceptical forecasts before its birth have not materialised. the euro is a historic achievement. its first ten years have been a success. this is also seen, noticeably so, from outside our continent. europe can be very proud of what it has achieved. the euro has brought many benefits but as i already said, this is no the time for complacency. we have many challenges to cope with in the years to come. some are shared with the other important central banks in the world, like responding to the present economic and financial global situation and drawing all the lessons from the present turmoil. other challenges are specific to the eurosystem, like the completion of the single market with a single currency and a successful enlargement. the people of germany as well as all 329 million fellow citizens in the euro area, can count on the ecb and on the eurosystem. you can count on us to continue providing a solid and reliable anchor of stability and confidence. particularly in the current environment both these elements are essential. i thank you for your attention.

2008, the number of persons employed in the euro area increased by more than 16 million. in the years before, from 1990 to 1998, the increase in persons employed was less than 6 million. these new jobs in the euro area were not created by the euro. there is no direct relationship because the change in employment is affected by many factors. but it is a confirmation that a monetary policy oriented towards price stability is fully compatible with job creation. i would like to come now to my second question : what is the role of the euro amid the current financial market turbulence? the question makes clear that the global environment in which we operate has completely changed in the past 18 months. global financial market turbulence and the economic downturn we are currently in an extraordinary situation. it is marked by an intensification and broadening of the global financial market turbulence – in particular since september last year – and a sharp downturn in the world economy. the tensions have increasingly spilled over from the financial sector to the real economy. their negative effects can be felt worldwide. since the end of 2008 virtually all economies – both of the industrialised countries and the emerging markets – have been moving in the same direction. this considerably contributes to the scale of the present downturn. this economic downturn has also affected the euro area. foreign demand for exports from the euro area has fallen. very low confidence and tight financing conditions have adversely affected domestic demand. on the basis of our current analysis, we see persistent weakness in economic activity in the euro area over the coming quarters. the financial market tensions have a further impact on the global and domestic economy. the economic prospects are still marked by an exceptionally high degree of uncertainty. reaction of the ecb and european governments the ecb reacted quickly and flexibly to the financial market turmoil. on 9 august 2007 we were the first central bank worldwide to recognise the tensions on the money market and to take important steps in the context of our liquidity management. with a very flexible liquidity management we ensured that solvent banks did not get into difficulties because of liquidity constraints. this has been the case in particular since september 2008 after intensification of the financial turmoil, which led to a very sharp rise in tensions. when reacting to the financial market turmoil, the ecb has always differentiated between liquidity management on the money market and its monetary policy stance ensuring price stability. we lowered the key interest rates when there was increasing evidence of inflationary pressures diminishing. the decline in the