it first hit and, little by little, it transformed from a mortgage crisis into the deepest global crisis since the great depression. the response to the crisis and the lessons drawn from it followed in a similar fashion. the approach and extent of response to the crisis was not uniform across the countries. the economies having fresh memories of the financial crises responded swiftly and more strongly. the same can be said for the public and business community in these economies. the economies enjoying a favourable fiscal position also faced the crisis without impairing their long - term fiscal sustainability. the situation seemed slightly more complex in some developed european economies. seeking to find a balance between deleveraging and fiscal consolidation, euro area authorities demanded setting up a protective wall against the possible fire bursting into from the outside. but, as noted, this fire had already burst out and was spreading inside the euro area walls ; therefore, setting up this “ protective wall against fire ” was pointless at this point. the european union and its institutional structures, along bis central bankers ’ speeches with the international financial institutions and partners, are undertaking a number of reforms to put this “ fire ” out. however, it is still unclear how long this “ agony ” will last and likewise is its impact on the euro area and its trading partners. the exhaustion of fiscal and monetary policy incentives failed to increase economic activity and, moreover, it further aggravated the sovereign debt situation and financial stability. consequently, the sovereign debt sustainability and banking system credibility - related issues were added to the concerns about economic growth. the question facing many countries today has the form of a trade - off between stability and sovereignty. currently, the latter two are intertwined in an endogenous relationship ( of mutual impact on one another ), in which the multi - dimensional need for stability ( implying the maintenance of price stability, macroeconomic stability, financial and fiscal stability ) requires taking balancing measures. the latter have considerable social costs in the short run. social discontent against them and the governments proposing them erodes the credibility of reforms and the authorities, increasing, in turn, the sovereign debt risk. euro area, and particularly its southern members, are facing a concern, whose solution bears consequences with economic and political implications for the future of all member states and the common currency. the reforms and policies undertaken by euro area authorities, individually or in a concerted manner, have important and direct implications for our economies. experience to date has shown that our partners and their large banks have adopted an approach that maximizes their

- year meeting with the media, a modest but very meaningful ceremony : the awards ceremony for the best diploma thesis. we value true scientific research in its highly beneficial capacity, from a long - term perspective, to enable the building of contemporary and sustainable research models. from this point of view, the bank of albania has endeavoured to boost its research capacities, something we consider to be essential, ultimately helping to perfect our entire decision - making process related to monetary policy and financial stability. for this very reason, the award ceremony for the best diploma thesis has become a consolidated activity of the bank of albania geared toward supporting promising students in the field of scientific research within the scope of central banking. this year, students also showed a high interest in presenting their diploma theses. we received 1 / 2 bis central bankers'speeches 27 studies on a wide range of economic, financial, and legal topics focused mostly on the albanian economy. it is a delight to see how these studies use contemporary research methodologies and valuable information intelligently to analyse economic phenomena, employing theoretical and empirical arguments. in spite of the challenge of choosing the most interesting studies, we now have our verdict on the “ governor ’ s award for the best diploma thesis 2018 ”. the selection has not been easy. each year, we receive increasingly more qualitative studies in terms of research methodology, topic originality and methods applied in research. i take this opportunity to congratulate all the contestants for the high quality of the presented studies. i hope and encourage you to further enrich your theoretical and empirical capacities as you advance in your careers, wherever that may lead, in academia or as experts in specific fields. i hope you will be unremittingly engaged in scientific research, in a relationship of which only the starting date is known. thank you and happy holidays! 2 / 2 bis central bankers'speeches