However, it was difficult to make any well-founded forecasts of the effect on the krona exchange rate, inter alia because the companies' strategy with regard to hedging of export income and equity are not strictly applied. So what has happened? It doesn't seem as though very much has happened. Companies can keep their accounts in euro now, if they wish. Some companies, mostly smaller ones, have chosen to do so. The changes with regard to investments of liquid funds that some believe they have observed are thus not based on a change in accounting currency. The fact that perceptions of the existence and degree of changes in behaviour differ may indicate that strategies differ between companies and over time. To summarise, there are many reasons why the euro will still only have a minor effect on the role of the krona in the Swedish economy after 1 January 2002. BIS Review 85/2001  5
Let me mention just four: 1.  to preserve peace;  2.  to improve economic prospects;  3.  to defend our values; and  4.  to increase personal options continent-wide. The founding fathers of the EU were willing to make political sacrifices to end bloodshed in Europe, following two devastating wars just decades apart. Let us not forget that we are here in a former prison in which every respected Luxembourg family had relatives who stood up for these values. After 70 years of peace in western Europe it is easy to be complacent that war will not happen again. Yet the current situation in Syria, Iraq, Ukraine and that of the Balkans in the 1990s shows that peace is vulnerable, even on our doorstep. But defence and security have to be understood as a common endeavour. The economic benefits of the Union are well documented: free trade, the removal of non-tariff barriers, the elimination of transactions costs of foreign exchange payments and the introduction of a single yield curve across the euro area to name but a few. These measures have reduced costs for businesses and households, and in turn generated higher income and created jobs. Looking ahead, also the recovery is on track to overcome the crisis. Europeans, for all our differences, have many values that we share more closely than even close allies such as the United States. Our social model ensures adequate healthcare and workers’ rights that are absent elsewhere.