at the bok, i hope that our younger employees will feel more confident and proactive in asking such questions to their superiors. if they were to ask me these questions, my answers would be something like this. " why? because we need to change. " " me? yes, you, because you are the very generation that feels the need to change the most. " " now? absolutely, because if not, we will be left behind. " as i have repeatedly emphasized, this is that everyone can express their own views regardless of seniority. i encourage you to move away from the mindset of merely accepting instructions from your senior officials, even when it is challenging to agree with them, and to step forward actively to bring about a change in this regard. also, i would like to kindly remind our senior officials that they must recognize their duty to 4 / 5 bis - central bankers'speeches nurture future leaders and to cultivate an environment where younger employees can fearlessly question conventional practices. in order to learn from the past, to forge a new path forward, we need to combine the fresh ideas of our younger employees with the wisdom of our senior members. this year, let us work together to make the bank of korea a pioneer of change without compromising its core essence as the central bank of korea. i will take the lead and spare no effort. as we celebrate our 73rd anniversary, i would like to once again express my sincere appreciation to all of you for your hard work. i wish you and your family all the very best. thank you. references hong, k. s., & choi, i. h. ( 2023 ), " key risk factors in the conditions of medium - term policy operations ", bank of korea blog. bank of korea ( 2022 ), monetary policy report, 2022 ( december ). bank of korea ( 2023 ), monetary policy report, 2023 ( june ). bank of korea ( 2023 ), payment and settlement systems report 2022, 2023 ( april ). 1 for details, see " key risk factors in the conditions of medium - term policy operations " ( bank of korea blog, may 2023, only in korean ). 2 for details, see " - 4. financial and foreign exchange markets " in the monetary policy report ( bank of korea, december 2022 ) ; and " increasing risks in the financial sector " in the monetary policy report ( bank of korea, june 202

independent institution, the ecb. while independent, the ecb is accountable to a democratically elected body, the european parliament. our decisions are taken at the european level. they are taken in the interest of europe. and – as a logical consequence – they are democratically legitimised at the european level. currently, this democratic control includes parliamentarians from countries that do not share the currency of the union, which the treaty explicitly states as being the euro. this logic cannot, however, be directly applied to all other policy areas. deciding on taxation and the allocation of budgetary expenditures is the core competence of national parliaments, and for good reason. taxation mirrors the people ’ s preferences for the supply of public goods and – just as importantly – their willingness to finance these public goods. taxation and the allocation of budgetary expenditures, therefore, requires a high degree of democratic legitimacy and parliamentary control at the national level. the concept of a european taxpayer, briefly discussed during the negotiations leading up to the maastricht treaty, did not end up being included in the treaty. this is currently a national prerogative, but that does not mean that we should shy away from further fiscal integration in the long run. we just need to get it right. lenaerts, k., cardonnel, p., rosas, a. and wahl, n. ( 2012 ), “ ‘ civis europaeus sum ’ : from the cross - border link to the status of citizen of the union ”, constitutionalising the eu judicial system, oxford. hoeksma, j. ( 2015 ), “ eu & emu : beyond the 2005 – 2014 crises decade ”, duisenberg school of finance ( dsf ) policy paper series, no 51, april. bis central bankers ’ speeches one of the ideas currently being discussed is a euro area - wide fiscal stabilisation function. this function could help to better cushion the economy against large macroeconomic shocks that cannot be dealt with at the national level alone. for such euro area stabilisation to work, however, we first need a significant degree of economic convergence and financial integration according to the five presidents ’ report. 3 in any case, a fiscal stabilisation function is meant to be just that : a stabilisation function. it should not be misused to introduce a transfer system through the back door. a fiscal stabilisation function could be managed by a euro - area treasury that would be