The Deputy Governor notes the considerable progress already made by the EMI towards developing payment systems for the euro area, but highlights the outstanding policy issue of whether intra-day credit should be made available to EU countries not included in the first wave of monetary union. The Deputy Governor argues that no such discrimination should be applied, in the interest of the efficiency—and hence attractiveness to potential users—of the system and to avoid unnecessary costs to commercial banks within the euro area.
The euro area from the perspective of an EU central bank