mugur isarescu : economic governance in the european union speech by mr mugur isarescu, governor of the national bank of romania, at the conference “ economic governance in the european union ”, jointly organized by the european commission, the ministry of finance and the national bank of romania, bucharest, 10 june 2011. * * * ladies and gentlemen, distinguished audience, it is a pleasure be the host of the conference on “ economic governance in the european union ”, an event jointly organized by the european commission, the ministry of finance and the national bank of romania. we are glad to welcome you all and our special guests : mr. gheorghe ialomitianu – the romanian minister of finance, mrs. elena flores, director for policy strategy and coordination in the european commission ’ s dgecfin, mr. theodor stolojan, member of european parliament and former prime minister of romania, mrs. iuliana dascalu, director in the finance ministry of romania, mr. hans martens, chief executive of the european policy centre think - tank and mr. daniel daianu, economics professor, former member of european parliament and finance minister of romania. a special note of thanks to my colleagues deputy governor cristian popa and the chief economist valentin lazea, who, together with our special guests, have responded to the challenge of debating a hot topic. in these challenging times, economic governance was brought to the spotlight by the recent global economic and financial crisis. governance may be seen as the manner in which power is exercised in the management of a country ’ s social and economic resources for development. we all know that good governance involves setting adequate policies, programs and regulations, which then have to be translated into legislation. as i often say, sustainable development hinges on the consistency of economic policies – there is no substitute for consistent, sound and stability - oriented economic policies. in this context, institutions are central to the way a country is governed and these are the formal and informal rules in a society. as the nobel prize winner douglas north pointed out “ the formal rules are set by the state through laws and regulations, while the informal rules come from the culture, history and experience of each society ”. only in the last 10 – 15 years most economists have discovered good governance – with its four pillars : transparency, accountability, predictability and participation – as a major determinant of economic growth. thus, economic governance implies the need to ensure stable, transparent

mugur isarescu : the macroeconomic perspective in romania welcome speech by mr mugur isarescu, governor of the national bank of romania, at the romanian - czech business forum, bucharest, 20 may 2014. * * * your excellency, president zeman, you are most welcome here, at the national bank of romania, a place that holds within its walls countless pieces of history, tails of how romania has grown into a modern state. we are privileged to greet here, today. distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, allow me to extend a very warm welcome and thank you all for gracing us with your presence at the romanian - czech business forum. it is a great pleasure for the national bank of romania, and an honor for me and for the members of the board, to host what will be a substantial discussion about the challenges currently facing europe, in particular the development of economic relations between the czech republic and romania. here, at the national bank of romania, we take pride in having always been a forum for debating, in an open and profound manner, the themes and trends defining our age. a few weeks ago we celebrated the 134 - th anniversary of the romanian national bank, a central bank ranking 16 - th in the world. during the break, after the working sessions, you are kindly invited to visit / walk the outstanding halls of the old palace of our national bank. let me salute the presence of mr. jaroslav hanak, president of the czech confederation of industry, mr. karel novotny, deputy minister of the czech ministry of industry and trade and mr. bogdan pandelica, state secretary of the romanian ministry of economy. they will address the audience right after my brief remarks. i extend a warm welcome to his excellency mr. jiri sitler, the ambassador of the czech republic. the forum will focus normally on micro level, on real economy issues. allow me to say a few words about the macroeconomic perspective in romania, which is the main area of interest for central bankers. the macro perspective is relevant since is the canvas on which the picture of business relations is to be set up. no doubt the crisis has taken its toll on romania ’ s economy, given the large imbalances which had been steadily accumulating during the boom years. whether the crisis has ended or not at european level is still a matter of debate. what may be said for certain is that romania undertook the necessary adjustments during 2009 –