there used to be long - standing ties between the cusanuswerk and the bundesbank – you took over as chairman back then from hans tietmeyer, the former president of the deutsche bundesbank. i ’ ve had the numbers checked : since you became a member of the foundation ’ s board, more than 3, 000 students have been sponsored. and at the rwi, too, you helped to create an environment in which the next generation of academics can reach their full potential. the great many rwi employees who submit their phd thesis each year attest to your achievements. and let ’ s not forget the many academics trained personally by you, mr kosters, in your chair, among them professor ansgar belke, who will be taking part in the subsequent panel discussion. that panel discussion will be discussing a topic to which you have devoted yourself as an 1 / 9 bis central bankers'speeches academic since the 1990s, and one which is close to my own heart : the prerequisites for making monetary union a union of stability. 3. european integration ladies and gentlemen, even though today ’ s event is essentially a gathering of economists, there is one point which must not be forgotten when discussing monetary union : namely that the euro was also a political project from the outset. as early as 1949, the french economist jacques rueff declared that money would pave the way to european integration. in his own words : “ europe will either be built on money or it won ’ t be built at all. " the unification of europe after the second world war was a political vision intended to bring lasting peace and stability to the continent. to put it in the words of jean monnet, the great european and winner of the charlemagne prize, and whose name your chair, mr koster, also bears : “ by creating europe, the europeans are building a true foundation for peace. " yet it was the integration of europe ’ s economies that was a major catalyst for european unification. and this in itself has produced remarkable results. economic integration – in other words, the elimination of trade barriers and the harmonisation of regulations – boosts prosperity. free trade enables each of us to specialise in what we ’ re best at. economies of scale can be harnessed more readily. plus a bigger market results in greater competition. and this in turn fosters innovative power and productivity. it is, of course, impossible to say exactly how the economy would have fared in the

inflation rates that are significantly down on their peaks in october, we still have a long way to go to reach our inflation target. moreover, inflation uncertainty remains high. the ecb governing council therefore will continue in its 1 / 3 bis - central bankers'speeches efforts to combat high inflation. in fact : it has already acted decisively. since july 2022, we have increased the key interest rates by a total of 400 basis points in eight consecutive steps. we have stopped net purchases under our app und pepp purchase programmes. and last but not least, we have decided to end reinvestments under the app in july. however, our job has not yet been completed. in my view, three levers must be used. first, our policy rate has to be sufficiently high. as i see it, we still have more ground to cover. we may need to keep raising rates after the summer break. second, once we have reached the peak, we will stay there until we are sure of a safe and timely return of inflation to our 2 % target. and third, we have to support this interest rate policy by reducing our balance sheet. i very much welcome the decisions to increase the pace of this reduction. 4 relationship between monetary and fiscal policy fiscal policy can significantly " support " the fight against high inflation. expansionary fiscal policy would fuel inflationary pressures. i go along with the european commission's recommendation that eu member states should phase out the fiscal measures they took in response to the energy price shock. and what is also important in my view is that governments tackle remaining high structural deficits in a timely manner. public debt that has gone off the rails must be put back on a sustainable path. this way, fiscal policy supports monetary policy beyond the business cycle, in a structural manner. sound public finances are a prerequisite for monetary policy to be able to do its job efficiently. at the european level, a set of rules was meant to take care of this. that didn't work out perfectly well. when considering an update to the fiscal rules, we should do what we can to ensure that the rules become more effective than they used to be. the commission's legislative proposals from april do not fulfil these requirements. 5 three opportunities to strengthen growth potential with sound public finances i have already mentioned one important element for prosperity in the european union. i'd like to add three more structural opportunities for growth. for one, the digital sector is an