While EMU highlights the need for flexible economies, the euro cannot be blamed for the emergence of those imbalances. Rather, this largely reflects a lack of adjustment in a number of Member States. This is particularly true for those euro area countries whose adjustment mechanisms and responsiveness to exogenous shocks is still rather slow. To allow euro area economies to develop their growth potential and to reap the full economic benefits of EMU, it remains indispensable that the countries concerned bring their structural reforms and fiscal consolidation measures more into line with the conditions and rules of monetary union. Overall, the ECB has done well to overcome these difficulties. However, the current global financial distress poses challenges of a significant and unprecedented nature to the ECB and  BIS Review 139/2008  1  other central banks around the globe. With this crisis, EMU is now ultimately experiencing a real test. In these demanding times, some widely-recognised core principles have helped the ECB to weather the storm. The Maastricht Treaty assigns a clear and unambiguous mandate to the ECB to maintain price stability. It also grants the ECB full independence from political influence to fulfil this mandate. Besides these institutional safety belts, monetary policy needs to be forward-looking, medium-term oriented and underpinned by a comprehensive analytical framework. Given the monetary nature of inflation over the longer term, such a framework must include a thorough analysis of monetary and credit developments to allow for wellinformed and consistent decision-making.
As cash becomes increasingly marginalised, it becomes central government’s task to help these people as we cannot expect the private market to do so. Under the framework of the e-krona, we can work with alternative solutions for these groups, such as some kind of prepaid card for example. In addition, it is important to consider whether legislation needs to be updated. Under the Sveriges Riksbank Act, Swedish kronor (SEK), in the form of banknotes and coins issued by the Riksbank, are legal tender. The Swedish Riksdag has thereby given cash a unique position as a means of payment. This provision means, for example, that traders and companies are obliged, in principle, to accept payment in cash. However, this obligation is not applied without exception. In many cases, it is possible for parties to contract that payment shall be made with other means of payment than cash. Shops, hotels and restaurants are thus not obliged to accept cash if they have clearly signalled this to their customers, for example in the form of a sign. It may therefore be appropriate to review whether the concept of a legal tender should be changed and whether the e-krona should be given a stronger position to ensure that it is established and accepted by the market. If the means of payment issued by the Riksbank is not generally accepted, it will be difficult for the Riksbank to perform its task of promoting a safe and efficient payment system.