robert holzmann governor oesterreichische nationalbank welcome remarks vienna, may 22, 2023 check against delivery! monetary policy in uncertain times : towards robustness and resilience opening remarks for the 50th oenb economic conference and the 60th suerf anniversary conference on 22 may 20231 ladies and gentlemen! let me start by thanking you all for joining us, both virtually and in person. i would also like to extend my sincere gratitude to the distinguished speakers, panelists and researchers who have agreed to honor us with their contributions to this event. a heartfelt “ thank you ” also goes to the oenb and suerf teams behind this event. in fact, this year ’ s edition of our conference marks a double anniversary. in 2023, we celebrate 50 years of oenb annual economics conference and 60 years of suerf. our long - standing joint efforts are a testament to the strong cooperation which we have successfully pursued for several decades. i must say i personally have come to believe in the “ prophetic capacities ” of oenb - suerf annual conferences. for last year ’ s conference, we convened in late 2021 to decide on the main conference theme. back then, we thought it would be wise to ask whether we would see a “ return of inflation ” in 2022. as you know, reality sadly answered this question extremely clearly. if you remember, in my opening speech last year i even had to replace the question mark in the conference title with an exclamation mark! for this year ’ s event, we came together a couple of months ago and concluded it would be a good idea to organize a conference focusing on how to render our monetary policy more “ robust and resilient ” to shocks – only to experience significant turmoil on financial markets in spring. so, i i want to thank kilian rieder for his excellent research and support to these opening remarks. publisher and editor : oesterreichische nationalbank communications division otto - wagner - platz 3, 1010 vienna, po box 61 am asking myself : what will come next? perhaps we need to think about formulating more positive and optimistic conference topics. in any case, i should emphasize that our “ prophecies ” are purely delphic in nature, and certainly not intended as odyssean. defining robustness and resilience on a more serious note : it seems obvious that a conference discussing robustness and resilience in policymaking requires

the european union across national borders. hence, the capital markets union fosters cross - border private financial risk sharing. in the european union, smes account for a share of over 90 % in total businesses, which patently illustrates the potential of the capital markets union initiative to promote sustainable growth. only 3, 000 of the 20 million smes in europe are listed on a stock exchange. this is about to change, as rules have been proposed that make it easier for smes to tap into a wide range of funding at all stages of their development and i fully trust the initiative and energy of my friend christoph leitl, president of eurochambers and co - initiator of this conference, to achieve progress in this field. let us not forget that all eu countries, except two with an opt - out, should one day adopt the euro. however, compared to the situation before the crisis, the setting in which euro area enlargement is taking place has changed profoundly. lessons drawn from the crisis have substantially transformed the institutional set - up of emu itself. in particular, the creation of the ssm has added an entirely new dimension to future euro area accession processes. at the same time, experience from the crisis has sharpened the views of policymakers, both in the current euro area member states as well in the non - euro area members, on what it takes for an individual country to participate smoothly in a monetary union. in a nutshell, we are today facing twin challenges in the eu – namely, that of deepening monetary union for the euro area countries and that of achieving convergence to allow for a smooth integration into monetary union for those eu member states not yet part of the euro area. at today ’ s and tomorrow ’ s conference, renowned experts and policy makers will provide us with new insights and help us understand where we stand right now in terms of emu deepening and convergence. let us take this opportunity to discuss what the major risks and needs for actions are. during austria ’ s eu presidency, we will strive to help master these challenges. i look very much forward to stimulating presentations and fruitful discussions, and i wish you an interesting and pleasant stay in linz.