larger escb was provided by the last general council meeting on 26 june. for the first time, the governors of the acceding country central banks participated as observers in a meeting of the general council of the ecb. with this look towards the future, i should like to conclude my statement. this will be the last time that i have the opportunity to present to you the annual report of the european central bank, which i have had the honour to preside over for the last five years. i would like to thank you for the co - operation and cordial relations that we have maintained during these years.

mario draghi : 20th anniversary of the euro speech by mr mario draghi, president of the european central bank, at the session of the plenary of the european parliament to mark the anniversary of the euro, strasbourg, 15 january 2019. * * * it is with great pleasure that i am here today to celebrate with you the first 20 years of the euro. the euro is the most tangible representation of european integration that our citizens encounter, on a daily basis. it is fitting, then, to celebrate this anniversary here with the directly elected representatives of all our citizens. over the years, elected representatives and leaders here and in other parliaments have rightly recognised that ensuring economic prosperity and stability over the long term is a shared challenge that is best faced collectively. we are stronger together. with the single market, we have a powerful engine of sustainable growth to underpin our living standards. the euro has safeguarded the integrity of the single market. today, our economies are integrated to a point that was not imaginable when the euro was designed. intra - eu exports rose from 13 % of eu gdp in 1992 to 20 % today and value chains are everywhere in the euro area. the euro has produced two decades of price stability also in countries where this was a long lost memory. stable prices have fostered people ’ s confidence in the value of their savings, which is one of the conditions for prosperity. based on such confidence, firms invest and create new jobs. today most challenges are global and can be addressed only together. it is this “ togetherness ” that magnifies the ability of individual countries to retain the sovereignty over the relevant matters, sovereignty that would otherwise be lost in this global world. it is precisely in this sense that the single currency has given to all members of the euro area their monetary policy sovereignty, compared with the pre - existing monetary arrangements. it is together that we have a voice in the regulation of international financial markets ; a voice, which has been fundamental in reshaping the world financial regulation after the global financial crisis. but in some countries, not all of the euro ’ s benefits have been realised in full. partly, this is because reforms at national level are necessary, and they would be so under any monetary system, to produce sustainable growth ; partly, because the economic and monetary union ( emu ) remains incomplete. great progress has been achieved since the crisis struck, but more work still needs to be done ; and there is no alternative to a future