the spokes of the system and thus makes the joint responsibility for tasks possible. the governing council is the highest decision - making body of the ecb, consisting of executive board members and governors of the national central banks. apart from the fundamental notion of joint responsibility, two guiding principles of the treaty determine the operational side of the system. first, subsidiarity prescribes that the responsibilities lie at the lowest possible level. in the context of the european community, this principle respects national sovereignty and reflects the heterogeneity of its member states. second, the treaty prescribes an efficient allocation of resources. in other words, the system should be effective at the least cost. in practice, there may be trade - offs between the principles of subsidiarity and efficiency, but gross inefficiencies should, of course, be avoided. tasks of the european system of central banks now, with this basic system framework in mind, let me turn to the actual tasks of the national central bank that follow from the system. in the paper, i cover the tasks of deciding on and executing monetary policy, foreign reserve management, the collection and production of statistics, external relations, and the operational aspects of payment systems and banknotes. given time constraints, i will limit myself to the conduct of monetary policy. the fundamental notion of joint responsibilities adds value in the sense that it offers checks and balances in the monetary policy process. for example, the participation of ncb - governors increases accountability and the quality of decision - making. indeed, given their joint responsibility for price stability, all national central banks have not only the right, but also the obligation, to fully prepare their governor in his or her capacity as an ecb - council member. although fundamental to the system, the notion of joint responsibility allows for institutional flexibility when it comes to the effectiveness of monetary policy – as this clearly lies at the heart of monetary union. let me first of all emphasise that the present size ( 18 members ) of the governing council has never been a stumbling block for effective, and where necessary, rapid decision - making. nevertheless, there is the perception that, with further emu - enlargement, the size of the team could hamper the effectiveness of monetary policy. that is why the treaty of nice goes as far as to offer the possibility to restrict the number of votes in the governing council on monetary policy. clearly, on the basis of the fundamental notion on which the system is

. and if the world or parts of the world find themselves in a severe downside scenario, then there will be significantly higher health and economic returns from a higher vaccine coverage. high and upper - middle income countries have been able to reach high vaccine coverage across their populations, surpassing global targets. early this year, 70 % of the population of g20 countries have now been fully vaccinated. unfortunately, while progress has been made, the delivery of covid - 19 vaccines against global targets remains unequal and falls short of the expectations. 6. differences in economies currently, around 50 % of announced vaccine donations by high - income countries have been delivered to low - income countries. although the acute impact of the covid - 19 pandemic now seems to be fading in most parts of the world, there is still an opportunity to minimise the cost of having to live with the virus. about 130 countries failed to meet the imf's vaccination target of 70 % by mid2022 - similar inequalities persist in terms of access to tests and treatments. universal vaccination, according to the imf, remains the best shield against new variants and persistent health - related absenteeism. and this universal vaccination should be backed by broad public health campaigns to promote vaccine uptake. the imf continues : " governments should also intensify efforts to resolve vaccine supply and distribution bottlenecks and ensure equitable access to treatment. public support for better systematic responses to future epidemics and research into new vaccine technologies, including for a more widely effective pan - coronavirus vaccine, remains essential. " 3 / 4 bis - central bankers'speeches 7. role of prevention for the economy in the netherlands, like in all other developed western countries, the current healthcare system is under immense pressure. challenging choices must be made to ensure a viable healthcare system in terms of funding, staffing and political backup. we expect a shift in focus from care to prevention and to sectors where quality and accessibility have been most under pressure in the past few years. preventive intervention will be needed, which can consist of the obvious, like preventive screening, vaccins or lifestyle campaigns. albeit important, prevention measures could also be expanded to include housing, food programmes, help with indebtedness, education and environmental policy. making better choices now means that we must implement those interventions that will improve our health. this will not only benefit our public health as a whole, but also