already completed five experiments and will carry out four more by the end of this year, with private and public actors alike. we will publish through the summer a comprehensive stocktaking. let me already stress three major lessons we learnt : - two experiments – one that was carried out with the eib and sg forgei and another that was carried out with euroclear / agence france tresor, ii have proved that tokenised central bank money helps settling financial securities more efficiently and rapidly ( instantaneously, compared with d + 2 currently ). it generates savings in liquidity and capital, which in turn lowers costs. new technologies could allow operations all year round and 24 / 7, and reduce the number of intermediaries involved. - a cbdc can also facilitate cross - border payments thanks to the use of distributed ledger technology and the interoperability of cbdc systems in different jurisdictions. we have this year joined forces with the snb, the bis innovation hub and a private sector consortium led by accenture, within a project named juraiii, which would allow the use of swiss franc and euro cbdcs on a dlt platform. we are also working with the monetary authority of singapore to test cross - currency payments with cbdcs. - existing market infrastructures ( like t2s ) and players, and future systems based on distributed ledger technology will need to be interoperable. decentralised finance is still not mature enough to handle large volumes of transactions, and therefore will not replace conventional systems from one day to another : centralised and decentralised systems will have to coexist securely and efficiently. this is the purpose of two experiments that we recently completed respectively with seba bank, iv for the settlement of listed securities, and with euroclear / agence france tresor on a collateral operation involving a french oat. 3 / when : getting ready to introduce a cbdc rapidly if necessary we therefore need to prepare ourselves, without hesitation, to introduce a cbdc rapidly if necessary : next july, the governing council could give the green light to launch an investigation phase, which could begin in the autumn and last until 2023. at that date, the governing council will decide on whether to launch a digital euro. we will then need a few years of serious preparatory work to turn an e - euro into reality. * let me say it again : on both digital currency and payments, we in europe must be ready to move as quickly as needed

christian noyer : the euro, a stabilising factor at home and abroad speech by mr christian noyer, governor of the bank of france, at “ paris europlace " a financial meeting in hong kong, 21 march 2005. * * * introduction • the legal basis for the single monetary policy is the treaty on the european community, whose article 105 states that “ the primary objective of the european system of central banks shall be to maintain price stability ”. • price stability, combined with the convergence of euro area economies, is the key issue enabling the euro to become a stable international currency. • thanks to a strong macroeconomic framework and to the convergence of euro area economies, the introduction of the euro has limited the risks of disequilibrium inside the euro area ( part 1 ). furthermore, the international role of the euro as a vector of stability has increased ( part 2 ). part 1 : the euro has been a key factor for maintaining stability inside the euro area the efficient macroeconomic framework of the euro area ( a ) has made the economies of the euro area more homogeneous and reduced the risks of macroeconomic disequilibrium ( b ). as a result, the euro area is characterized by strong economic fundamentals ( c ). a the macroeconomic framework of the euro area is an efficient framework • for the past six years, the eurosystem has been responsible for defining and implementing the single monetary policy. the primary objective of the eurosystem is to maintain price stability, which has been defined as a year - on - year increase in the harmonised index of consumer prices ( hicp ) for the euro area of below 2 % in the medium - term. in may 2003, the ecb governing council confirmed this definition and specified that, in the pursuit of price stability, it will aim to maintain inflation rates close to, but below, 2 % over the medium - term. the monetary policy conducted by the eurosystem has led to a low level of inflation, which averaged 2 % between 1999 and 2004, and to very favorable financing conditions as both short - term and long - term interest rates have reached very low levels. • moreover, in principle, fiscal policies cannot undermine the objective of price stability as the treaty prohibits monetary financing and as member states are committed to implementing the stability and growth pact. however, the lack of fiscal discipline in some euro area countries and the recent debate at the eu level have illustrated the fact that it is still necessary