Exploiting the new market opportunities takes time because institutional structures and  BIS Review 16/2006  1  operating practices need to be adapted. Some of the funds Malta is getting from the EU are being used precisely to strengthen the economy’s export potential. At the same time, it is also true that the EU economy did not grow as rapidly as anticipated in 2005. It expanded by 1.6 per cent, compared with 2.3 per cent in 2004. A higher proportion than ever of consumer demand, moreover, was satisfied by imports from more competitive producers at the expense of established suppliers. Finally, as I have already observed, the persistence of sluggish growth in the Maltese economy cannot be explained exclusively in terms of a cyclical downturn. Delays in implementing effective competitiveness-enhancing reforms were also a factor. As a result, the economy was not fully prepared to exploit the single market. 3. In these circumstances, isn’t this the worst time to be strait-jacketed by the conditions for euro adoption? Wouldn’t a fiscal boost speed up economic growth, now that your already limited monetary policy tools have been put in the shed? Allow me first to correct two misconceptions implicit in your second question. For a start, our monetary policy tools have not been put away but are available for use if needed, as was the case in April last year when the Bank’s central intervention rate was raised by 25 basis points.
Further decisive steps towards establishing a genuine banking union are needed so as to further reduce financial fragmentation, enhance the resilience of the banking sector and strengthen the institutional framework of the euro area. The ECB welcomes the approval of the legal framework of the single supervisory mechanism (SSM) by the European Parliament on 12 September and we look forward to its urgent adoption by the EU Council in the course of October. The entry into force of the SSM legal framework will allow us to further speed up the preparation process, which is well under way. We are committed to delivering on our new supervisory responsibilities by November 2014. We also strongly support the envisaged timeline for the establishment by the end of 2014 of the single resolution mechanism (SRM), which is a necessary complement to the SSM. The Commission’s proposal for the SRM contains three essential elements for the effective resolution of banks, namely: a single system, a single authority and a single fund. The ECB’s forthcoming comprehensive assessment of banks’ balance sheets, which will take place before the ECB assumes its supervisory responsibilities, will be an important confidence-building tool, and we are committed to ensuring its consistency and transparency. The effectiveness of this exercise will also depend on the availability of necessary arrangements for recapitalising banks, if and when needed, including through the provision of a public backstop, if private funds cannot be acquired.