jean - claude trichet : inauguration of the “ language of money ” exhibition and the euro exhibition speech by mr jean - claude trichet, president of the european central bank, at the inauguration of the “ language of money ” exhibition and the euro exhibition at the museum fur kommunikation, frankfurt am main, 10 march 2010. * * * ladies and gentlemen, distinguished guests, it is a great pleasure for me to be here today at the museum fur kommunikation in frankfurt for the inauguration of two exhibitions. first, it is a particular honour for me, in my capacity as patron, to open the “ language of money ” exhibition. and, of course, it also gives me great pleasure to open the european central bank ’ s euro exhibition. these two complementary exhibitions share similar themes, of interest to me as a central banker. they explore the history, practicalities and overall role that money plays in our lives, and are indeed both very enlightening. whatever language we speak, there is no doubt that money plays an important role in communication, conveying messages directly or indirectly about our society, our status and our values. the “ language of money ” exhibition examines the role that money plays in our lives. naturally i am very interested in the language of money and, in particular, the language of the euro. the euro should speak both of europe ’ s diversity and its common culture, its history and its future. and indeed it does, through the architectural motifs on our banknotes and the cultural symbols on the national sides of our coins. take the name “ euro ”, for instance. when choosing the name, it was purposely decided that it should not favour any specific language, but speak rather of europe. and so the word “ euro ” entered our vocabulary : a new word for a new european currency. today, of course, the word does not seem new at all. the euro has become one of the most tangible elements of europe for the 330 million european citizens who use the euro as their common currency on a daily basis. since the creation of the euro, it has also become clear how important a role the single currency can play in the realisation of an ever closer union among the peoples of europe. the number of countries participating in economic and monetary union has grown over the years and today the euro is used in 16 member states of the european union, covering an area that stretches from cyprus to ireland and from portugal to finland. the euro also has

inflation reaching 1. 7 % in each of the next three years. these are the latest in a series of projections that have pointed to a convergence of headline inflation towards the governing council ’ s inflation aim. regarding confidence, uncertainty around the projected path of inflation has diminished. moreover, underlying inflation has increased from the very low levels observed in 2016 and is expected to rise amid an expanding economy, high levels of capacity utilisation and labour market tightening. stronger underlying inflation pressures, in turn, should pass through to headline inflation. in terms of resilience, the projected path of inflation is expected to be maintained even after a gradual ending of net asset purchases. on the basis of this assessment, the governing council concluded that substantial progress has been made towards a sustained adjustment. given the underlying strength of the euro area economy, together with well - anchored longer - term inflation expectations, we are confident that the sustained convergence of inflation towards our aim will continue in the period ahead, even after a gradual winding - down of our net asset purchases. as a result, we took a number of decisions in june. first – subject to incoming data confirming our medium - term inflation outlook – we anticipate reducing the monthly net asset purchases from €30 billion to €15 billion at the end of september 2018 and ending net asset purchases at the end of december 2018. second, we intend to continue reinvesting the principal payments from maturing securities purchased under the asset purchase programme for an extended period of time after the end of net purchases, and in any case for as long as necessary to maintain favourable liquidity conditions and an ample degree of monetary policy accommodation. 2 / 5 bis central bankers'speeches third, we expect the key ecb interest rates to remain at their present levels at least through the summer of 2019, and in any case for as long as necessary to ensure that the evolution of inflation remains aligned with our current expectations of a sustained adjustment path. together, these measures will continue to provide the necessary degree of monetary policy accommodation to bring inflation back towards a level that is below, but close to, 2 %. looking ahead, monetary policy will continue to be firmly guided by the outlook for price stability and our stance will evolve in a data - dependent and time - consistent manner. having reflected on the current economic situation in the euro area and the corresponding monetary policy stance, let me now turn to the future, notably to governance of emu. emu governance the ecb ’ s monetary policy measures introduced