policies that would respond to idiosyncratic national conditions. accordingly, a fiscal brake at the eu level, codified in the stability and growth pact, was designed to prevent fiscal profligacy, preserve fiscal space and hence allow automatic stabilisers to play out in full during downturns. moreover, country - specific shocks were expected to become ever less important as the euro would spur market integration and the flexible single market to allow an easy and fast rebalancing after such shocks. however, the scale of the shock after the 2008 financial crisis was unprecedented in a number of countries and it far exceeded their national shock absorption capacity. the euro area had no mechanisms to provide financial support for countries in difficulty and stave off cross - border contagion ; there were no area - level institutions to prevent governments from bis central bankers ’ speeches being pulled down by their domestic banking systems. this underscored the pitfalls of a design that relies exclusively on the national level to fulfil the stabilization function. third, we have learned that governance of economic policies at the eu level has to be broader and deeper than anticipated prior to the crisis. besides fiscal surveillance, which essentially focused on public deficits, 1 there was believed to be no need to closely monitor macroeconomic imbalances and disequilibria on the labour, product or financial markets. disequilibria originating from the private sector were supposed to be only short - lived and eliminated by market forces. the data clearly show that this was insufficient. between 1999 and 2007, the ratio of public debt to gdp in emu declined on average by 5. 6 percentage points. the improvement was by large the result of favourable economic conditions rather than concrete fiscal consolidation measures which should have aimed at approaching the reference value of a 60 % gdp to debt ratio at a satisfactory pace, as the treaty prescribes it. in some countries – as we all know – the sovereign debt dynamics were much less favourable than the euro area average. nevertheless, the accumulated private sector imbalances seem to have far exceeded those in the public sector. in the same period – between 1999 and 2007 – the ratio of private sector debt to gdp increased by 26. 8 percentage points. also for the same period, in the stressed countries, the cumulative increase in the private debt ratio to gdp versus the public debt ratio, amounted respectively, to 49 and 24 per cent for portugal, 75 and minus 35 per cent for spain, 101 and minus 10 per

news conference on new banknotes berne, 3 september 2019 fritz zurbrugg introductory remarks by fritz zurbrugg ladies and gentlemen i am very pleased to welcome you to our presentation of the new 100 - franc note, the last denomination of the ninth banknote series to be issued. to mark the final milestone in this challenging project, as well as inviting the media we also have some guests here who were heavily involved in developing and producing the new banknote series. it gives me great pleasure to welcome representatives from our suppliers orell fussli, landqart, sicpa and kurz. i am going to start by unveiling the hotly anticipated 100 - franc note, before showing you the full series, with all six denominations together for the first time. my colleague thomas jordan will then review the issuance process for the entire new series, before looking to the future. after that, we will take your questions on the new 100 - franc note, and the ninth series in general. we do of course have all the denominations here with us, so that you can take photos of both the 100 - franc note and the entire series. finally, we will round off today ’ s event with a drinks reception, to which you are all warmly invited. but let ’ s start by unveiling the last denomination in the new banknote series. voila, the new 100 - franc note. i ’ ll now take you through the details of the new note. like its predecessor, the new 100 - franc note is blue. and, as with all the other denominations in the new series, it is narrower and shorter than the previous note. the theme of the 100 - franc note is switzerland ’ s humanitarian tradition, and the key motif is water. both are reflected in the note ’ s core design elements. the hand and the globe are the main images on the front of the note. the hands are scooping up water, and isobars are depicted over the globe. page 1 / 3 berne, 3 september 2019 fritz zurbrugg news conference on new banknotes the back of the note shows an irrigation channel, or ‘ suone ’, feeding glacial meltwater down a cliff face to the fields below. a suone is a method of transporting water from high altitudes to lower - lying areas for irrigation purposes. in the past, such irrigation channels were used for land cultivation, especially in the valais region.