##skilled workers to find more skilled jobs, meaning that they continue to be trapped in low - paid jobs. 18 the main answer is education and training that disseminates marketable skills more widely. otherwise, there is a risk that, rather than being seen as an agent of jobs and opportunity, structural reforms are seen as a catalyst for a low - wage, precarious economy. conclusion let me sum up. the crisis has confirmed that more flexible economies are more resilient, especially for countries that are part of a monetary union. lessons about how to design and implement reforms so as to maximise their benefits and minimise their short - term costs should be put into practice. reforms have to take into account equity as well as efficiency. vested interests have to be tackled and those who have lost out given proper support. with monetary policy being accommodative, we now have a window of opportunity to take these measures. i hope the insights at this conference can move this agenda forward. 1 this holds true for both the countries that joined the euro area early on ( by 2001 ) and the former communist countries that joined later. however, for a given “ doing business ” level ( world bank measure of business regulations ) the latter group seem to have generally outperformed the former, possibly due to their larger catching - up potential. 2 see banco de espana ( 2015 ), “ competitive adjustment and recovery in the spanish economy ”, annual report, box 2, pp. 39 - 63 ; vansteenkiste, i. ( 2017 ), “ did the crisis permanently scar the portuguese labour market? evidence from a markov - switching beveridge curve analysis ”, working paper series, no 2043, ecb, frankfurt am main, april ; and sestito, p. and viviano, e. ( 2016 ), “ hiring incentives and / or firing cost reduction? evaluating the impact of the 2015 policies on the italian labour market ”, questioni di economia e finanza ( occasional papers ), no. 325, banca d ’ italia, march. 3 based on a static relationship between changes in the employment rate and percentage changes in gdp for the period between the first quarter of 1999 and the second quarter of 2015. the period of the recovery analysed is from q2 2013 to q2 2015. see the article entitled “ what is behind the recent rebound in euro area employment? ”, economic bulletin, issue 8, ecb

technical platform. it guarantees a harmonised level of service for banks all over europe combined with one single transaction price for domestic and cross - border payments and is one of the best individual payment systems in the world. this system was developed and is operated by a “ consortium ” of central banks – the banca d ’ italia, the banque de france and the deutsche bundesbank – on behalf of the eurosystem. target2 securities will be a platform for the cross - border and domestic settlement of securities against central bank money. the development and operation of this system was assigned to the deutsche bundesbank, the banco de espana, the banque de france and the banca d ’ italia. following a review of the current eurosystem collateral management handling procedures, in particular, the correspondent central banking model ( ccbm ), the governing council decided to again develop a single platform, called ccbm2, allowing the eurosystem to manage collateral both for domestic and cross - border operations. work will be undertaken by the nationale bank van belgie / banque nationale de belgique and de nederlandsche bank based on their existing system. as you can see a range of different organisational models are explored to achieve maximum synergies, e. g. specialisation, attribution to one particular member of the eurosystem team, decentralisation and, when and where needed, pooling, which means that a group of central banks provides a service for the entire eurosystem. you will not be surprised that i would stress that in call cases it is important that the ecb ensures the coherence of the full team by exercising in an appropriate fashion its captainship. let me conclude by warmly congratulating the banque centrale du luxembourg on its 10th anniversary. i think i can say that both our institutions are looking back on a decade of challenges successfully mastered. during the ten years of the eurosystem ’ s existence, and in particular during the recent months of financial crisis, we have proven that the eurosystem functions well, even in periods of great stress. the eurosystem has passed the test of its first decade of existence. looking ahead, i am confident that with its unique architecture and a strong and enduring team spirit it is also prepared to tackle the challenges of the future. i thank you for your attention.