profound national sovereignty seems to be somewhat reactionary. of course, there are tasks that can be done better at the european level than the national. conversely, there are tasks that are still more at home at the domestic level. looking at the resurgent debate on the future of europe, what i feel really counts is deciding, as a first step, whether there are any additional responsibilities that would make sense to transfer to the eu. from an economic standpoint, these might include europe - wide public assets and policy areas with cross - border externalities, in particular. the second step would then be to clarify how these joint responsibilities should be funded. in his speech at the sorbonne, french president emmanuel macron singled out a number of policy areas that he believes should be mutualised, such as defence, border security, and climate protection. at the same time, however, the principle of subsidiarity enshrined in the eu treaty needs to be applied more effectively. for this reason, i am delighted to see that european commission president jean - claude juncker has established a task force on subsidiarity to look into which tasks could be re - delegated to member states. one area of responsibility that will certainly not be put back into the hands of member states is monetary policy. this, incidentally, is not what the public at large wants, either. according to the latest eurobarometer survey, three - quarters ( 74 % ) of respondents in the euro area are in favour of the single currency, while only one in five ( 21 % ) is against the euro. in some 5 / 7 bis central bankers'speeches countries, germany included, the approval rating is higher than 80 % even. the euro sees its lowest level of support in italy, although, even there, its supporters still outnumber detractors two to one. that said, the crisis in the euro area revealed just how fragile the architecture of monetary union is. this fragility, however, is not due to any fundamental flaw in the single currency itself. rather, it is more the interplay between the single monetary policy on the one side and national sovereignty in matters of economic and fiscal policy on the other that makes the monetary union susceptible to crisis. recognising that this balancing act can be problematic for the stability of the single currency is anything but a new insight. as far back as 1970, karl klasen emphasised that " a single monetary policy can only be effective

jens weidmann : national sovereignty and global challenges speech by dr jens weidmann, president of the deutsche bundesbank and chairman of the board of directors of the bank for international settlements, at the awarding of the karl klasen journalism prize, hamburg, 30 january 2018. * * * 1. welcome senator mr klasen mr erlanger ladies and gentlemen please accept my sincere congratulations, mr erlanger, on being awarded the karl klasen journalism prize. as the chief diplomatic correspondent for europe at the new york times, you make a valuable contribution to the strengthening of transatlantic relations – something which mattered greatly to karl klasen. it is an admirable, and at the same time, demanding task, explaining the workings of europe and the european union. 2. damaging isolationist tendencies since the year 2000, the official motto of the european union has been " united in diversity ". that slogan is intended to convey the idea that europeans work together for peace and prosperity, and that they view their cultural and linguistic differences as an asset. in the light of recent events, a fair number of those gathered here today are probably thinking that the issue of diversity has pushed the concept of unity into the background. here i am thinking in particular about brexit, which represented the first backwards step in the process of european integration. parties criticising the euro and the european union have enjoyed considerable electoral success in many countries, germany included, and eu member states have shown themselves to be anything but united, not least in the dispute about the reception and redistribution of refugees. exacerbated isolationist tendencies haven ’ t been confined to europe, though. protectionism has returned to the international economic policy agenda. demands for a more restrictive trade policy have been voiced not only in the united states of america, but in other industrial countries too. the usa ’ s recent imposition of punitive tariffs on producers of solar panels and washing machines is an example of rhetoric being followed by action. trade - restrictive measures often provoke backlashes, and these harbour the risk of erupting into trade wars in which there can only be losers. the us solar energy industries association, for instance, is expecting a net loss of 23, 000 jobs in this year alone. the punitive tariffs on solar panels and components will also drive up domestic production costs, and probably depress demand for solar panels. this is turn means that fewer solar panel fitters will be required. avoiding conflicts like this,