with other macroeconomic policies, led to an almost continuous growth of the foreign reserves, which today are at the highest historical level and directly strengthen the exchange rate stability. confirmation of the soundness of the policies implemented by the national bank is a historic step in providing access to european central bank ’ s foreign exchange liquidity. the key to the successful attainment of the goals of the national bank so far is its strong institutional capacity which has been built for years. only a highly professional and independent institution can successfully deal with the hart times, which are not rare here. the latest example of this is the covid - 19 pandemic, which although a struggle for human health and life, is also a struggle for policymakers to maintain macroeconomic stability and reduce the impact on the economy. therefore, i would like to express my gratitude to all current and former colleagues and collaborators, who with their contribution have contributed to what we are today – a modern central bank that operates in accordance with the latest and highest international standards and best international practices and stands out as a positive example in the central banking community. 1 / 2 bis central bankers'speeches congratulations on the 29th anniversary of the monetary independence! 2 / 2 bis central bankers'speeches

leaders, articulating their national tastes and priorities. of course, the agent, the european commission as an executive arm of the eu, also sometimes has this temptation to define or steal the voice of the eu. needless to say, the risk that proper integration will be derailed is particularly high when the two effects mentioned above are combined – when the eu administration ceases to behave as an agent of the less powerful principals but remains under the spell of a few very strong principals. it is fairly understandable that certain eu member states support the current, rather non - transparent way of modifying the institutional set - up : it is the only way for them to maintain or even strengthen the draconian mix i just described. given that european integration is taking place in this “ european ” way ( in the bad sense of the word ), it is no wonder that standard democratic politics has not left the national level : all formally eu - wide ideas are always translated in each individual member state into the local political context ; there are no true eu - wide political parties, no true eu - wide politicians, no true eu - wide media. the debate in eu institutions rarely follows the lines that we are used to in standard political debates, such as whether we want more freedom or more redistribution. instead, most time is spent, as i said, on procedures and institutions. the official efforts at gradual political integration thus give the impression of squaring the circle. these awkward traits in politics at the eu level then lead to some perverse implications. on the one hand, measures which would help europe to retain a strong economic position – and here i mean especially liberalisation of markets and trade – take years or even decades to implement : the single market for services still does not exist and even the single market for labour still has fundamental exemptions. the celebrated lisbon strategy has turned into a farce ; many of the structural reforms that it outlined would be beneficial economically, but few of them have been realised or at least enforced by the agent, the european commission. on the other hand, the eu institutions have repeatedly shown an ability to produce bizarre pieces of legislation that would hardly ever be passed at the national level in any given member state. the famous czech writer milan kundera would probably call it the “ unbearable lightness of legislating ”. so my suspicion is that the eu is now in a position where it is easier to integrate than to liberalise. and these are two different things in terms of