a means of fostering national economic integration. the objective was twofold : to establish the boundaries of the domestic market, and to face up to competition from international currencies such as the florin or ducat. currencies were also used for their symbolic value, to forge a sense of national unity and serve as a medium to convey national imagery. it was in this context of the joint assertion of monetary and national sovereignty that central banks were created between the 17th and 20th centuries. ii their history was strongly influenced by respective national experiences : some, such as the bank of england ( 1694 ), were created to meet the state ’ s financing needs ; others, such as the bank of the estates of the realm in sweden ( 1668 ), were set up to facilitate payments. the banque de france, for its part, was founded in 1800 under the consulate – just a few weeks after the council of state... – as part of a much vaster initiative to build france ’ s institutions, the “ granite blocks ” capable of unifying the “ grains of sand ” of the nation. created as an autonomous institution, albeit allied to the government, the banque de france was granted a monopoly over banknote issuance ( 1803, 1848 ) and helped to consolidate national unity throughout france, notably by developing its network of branches. in general, central bank functions converged from the 19th century onwards, and the institutions gradually took on their modern role : as operators of monetary policy, managers of payment systems and guarantors of financial stability... but not, lest it need repeating, as lenders to the state. as a result of this historical heritage, a very “ westphalian ” iii understanding of monetary sovereignty persists, whereby money issuance and monetary policy management are sovereign privileges, managed by nation states. it is at this point that i would like to look at two potential contemporary metamorphoses. a ) the euro, a currency without a state... or the beginning of european sovereignty? for the westphalian vision, the european monetary union advocated notably by francois mitterrand and helmut kohl as of 1989 - 90, clearly constituted a page 3 of 6 major upheaval that would lead purely and simply to a loss of sovereignty for member states. the founding fathers of the euro responded by saying that states could choose whether or not to have greater effective sovereignty, and i shall quote jacques delors here : “ it is in sharing

consumer protection. we have set up a complete and integrated system of innovation facilitators to act as a catalyst in the sector : 1. the fintech channel is the point of contact through which operators can dialogue easily and informally with the bank of italy. they can present projects in the fields of financial services and payments, based on innovative technology, or propose technological solutions designed for banks and financial intermediaries. 2. the regulatory sandbox, in close cooperation with the other two italian supervisory authorities ( ivass and consob ) and with the involvement of the ministry of finance, is a controlled environment where supervised entities and fintech operators will be able to test technologically innovative products and services in the banking, financial and insurance sectors for a limited period of time. 3. milano hub is the innovation centre created by the bank of italy to support the digital evolution of the financial market and encourage the attraction of talent and investments. we are completing the second call for dlt projects, and the third one will be announced in the coming months. 2 / 3 bis - central bankers'speeches this is a unique and privileged perspective for monitoring changes and trends in the financial market, also at international level through cooperation and coordination with foreign authorities, institutions and stakeholders. all the information gathered is a great asset for understanding market dynamics and increasing the awareness of operators'needs and strategies, so as to intercept phenomena of interest promptly, and to identify the most appropriate and effective regulatory and supervisory actions to facilitate the development of fintech, thereby limiting the spread of potential new risks from the outset. these two days of work and debate have provided further value added, giving us and the overall ecosystem interesting empirical, regulatory and policy perspectives and takeaways. in this evolving landscape, the different sessions have provided important scientific contribution on key topics, exploring emerging technologies, their implications for the innovative payments ecosystem, open finance, central bank digital currencies and the potential forms of digital money, closing with their sustainability. as highlighted in the last panel, the interest and the engagement to ensure the greatest compliance with the sustainable development goals is growing among researchers, policymakers and the industry. the discussion embraced all the questions posed by the broader definition of sustainability, encompassing all the social, environmental and economic aspects. achieving the sdgs is indeed a challenging task, also given the amount of resources needed. the only way forward requires all actors – policymakers, industry and the general public – to do their part. i would like to thank