schumpeter coined the phrase “ innovative entrepreneur ” ( schopferischer unternehmer ). there is now demand for future - oriented corporates who will use sepa as to drive the optimisation of processes and thereby provide the necessary requirements for innovation, which will encourage economic growth and social change. it is encouraging to see that some entrepreneurs are already very active in the debate on the future sepa instruments. a forum has been created at the european level to enable stakeholders to be more closely involved in the sepa project. this is called the customer stakeholder forum. there are also forums at the national level that are working on improvements and innovation for the next 20 years. i hope that many corporates will join the discussions in the forums and thus improve the european launch pad known as sepa. thank you for your attention.

stable and prudent financial system. to promote its views europe has to organise itself to speak with one voice at the negotiating table. if europeans are divided, unable to take decisions, they will have to accept what ’ s decided elsewhere. ultimately, speaking with one voice and taking decisions means deciding by ( qualified ) majority. it means that each member accepts being put in a minority by the others, as in a democracy. it means, ultimately, increased political integration in europe. in other words, either european countries move towards increased political integration or they become irrelevant on major issues that are of relevance on the international scene. it may sound a bit blunt, but at least it ’ s spelt clearly! one objection to the choice of greater political integration is that some fundamental competences are inherent to nation states and cannot be given up without impairing the political integrity of those states. * * * this brings me to the fourth, and for now final, symptom which seems to be affecting some europeans, i. e. denial. as people grow older, the performance of certain functions – especially the more pleasant ones, which in some cases reflect power and potency – tends to be impaired. science may to some extent help us to delay the slow but inevitable decay. on the other hand, it can also lead us into a dangerous state of denial. the same seems to apply to political power. as europe and european countries grow older, and also smaller, they continue to deny the fact that their effective power is shrinking, if not disappearing. for instance, many fora in which several european countries participate have lost relevance. and one of the reasons for this is that europeans are over - represented in these fora, which reduces their legitimacy. let me give you the example of the international monetary fund where eu countries are represented in ten different constituencies, out of 24. the euro area countries are spread over eight constituencies. some are even in constituencies in which all other countries are non - european ; ireland, for example, is in the same constituency as canada and caribbean countries. given the way europeans are organised, it ’ s no wonder the imf is largely influenced by the united states and that europeans tend to punch much below their weight. furthermore, major decisions concerning the imf are increasingly taken in other fora, typically the g7 or the g20, where only the four largest european countries are represented. the eu is also a member of the g20, but given the rotating