of a forthcoming commission green paper ( which is expected mid - march ). bis central bankers ’ speeches in these difficult times, jean monnet ’ s famous remark – true not only for our continent and the great endeavour that he and others launched so effectively – “ europe will be forged in crises, and will be the sum of the solutions adopted for those crises ” should be a leitmotiv for our thinking now. this is not a time for stop - gaps, but for ensuring that each policy choice that is made is guided, not only by short - term expediency, but by a clear vision of where europe is going. europe is far more than an economic, budgetary and financial entity, but it is in these fields that current challenges inevitably dominate official decision - making now. i hope not to sound sycophantic, but i have to say that i think that the proposals for a new architecture – for union in the financial, fiscal, economic and political domains – which have been made by the four presidents of the european council, the european commission, the eurogroup and the ecb last summer, hit the nail on the head, and sketched the way in which a new european framework must emerge, heralding a greater sharing of sovereignty combined with risk sharing and financial backstops. this is a viable path which, if we follow it to its conclusion, will help replace the somewhat fraught and crisis - prone regime in which we have been living for the past half - decade. to recall, this vision incorporates • an integrated financial framework – banking union – to ensure financial stability • an integrated budgetary framework – fiscal union – ensuring coordination and solidarity • an integrated economic policy framework – economic union – to promote growth, employment and competitiveness • the necessary democratic legitimacy and accountability – political union what is needed, therefore, is a staged process, a mutually reinforcing series of carefully sequenced steps which will combine substantial ambition with careful balancing in each phase. moves towards more responsibility and economic discipline should be combined with more solidarity and financial support. deeper integration of regulation and policy must be accompanied by political integration to ensure democratic legitimacy and accountability. fine words, you will say, but who can doubt the need for this – including the political integration dimension which really is well beyond my mandate, not to say my competence. after all, jean claude juncker ( drawing on his long - term experience as president of the eurogroup ) put it succinctly : “

patrick honohan : the european union – financial, fiscal, economic and political challenges ahead address by mr patrick honohan, governor of the central bank of ireland, to the national bank of poland bi - annual eu presidency lecture, warsaw, 19 march 2013. * * * let me begin by thanking marek belka, president of the national bank of poland, for inviting me to give this inaugural lecture in the national bank ’ s bi - annual series during ireland ’ s presidency of the european union. it is not, to be sure, my first visit to poland : i have come here for both business and leisure, and most recently had the most interesting pleasure of visiting wroclaw during the polish presidency at the informal ecofin meeting hosted by marek and by jacek rostowski. ireland and poland have many cultural ties, and as you know we have welcomed a large population of poles in ireland over the past decade. they came during the boom years, but many have put down roots and are staying with us even in these more difficult economic times ; over 2½ % of ireland ’ s population have polish nationality. i was interested to discover that, thanks to this migration flow and the associated two - way travel that follows from it, there are no fewer than 66 weekly nonstop flights between ireland and poland, surely a remarkable instance of european integration considering the distance involved of as much as 2000 kilometres and the relatively small population of my own country at just 4½ million. a big part of the explanation – other historical developments aside – is of course the fact that ireland and poland share membership in the european union ; indeed, form the western and eastern borders of the union at the latitude ( 52° - 53°n ) which dublin and warsaw share. poland took the presidency of the union for the first time in 2011 ; this role has rotated now to ireland which performs it for the seventh time in the 40 years of its membership. as you know, during these semesters, each national government, supported by the national administrative structures, seeks to progress the council ’ s role in the strategic and legislative programme of the union. poland ’ s effective presidency, in which you steered the turbulent discussions on economic governance during one of the most pressured episodes of the economic crisis, and secured agreement on reinforcing fiscal coordination through the so - called “ six - pack ” of legislative measures, is recalled as a strikingly successful one. eighteen months later, though the systemic financial crisis of the euro area is less