of the euro through lower transaction costs. this may, in turn, facilitate the development of the euro as a vehicle currency for trade and commodity pricing. in addition, if international investors and issuers consider the euro to be a stable currency, they will hold more euro assets to minimise risks in their internationally diversified portfolios. two processes of great significance for the world economic and political order have unfolded in the last decades : economic globalisation and european integration. they are partially linked. yet they have different roots. one is the fruit of technological process and the free forces of the markets. the other has been motivated by political will and vision. regional integration and international co - operation are surely appropriate means to promote more stability and economic growth in the different parts of the world and to contribute to humanise the process of globalisation. * * * the euro banknotes show windows, gateways and bridges. these symbols of openness and communication will help both to promote a feeling of shared identity and to further strengthen exchanges among the nations of europe. at the same time, these symbols are a reflection of the european attitude towards the rest of the world.

price stability and in doing so stabilise the purchasing power of money. central banks will also continue to take care of the safe nature of money, explaining their strong interest in financial stability which has even increased since the crisis. after all, the largest part of the money stock is not directly issued by central banks themselves in the form of base money. on the contrary, it is created in the financial system and is held by the money - holding sector as liabilities of financial intermediaries. a significant part of it is in fact deposits with commercial banks. without having sound financial institutions, money cannot be truly safe, nor will it be fully trusted by the public. and indeed, during the worst days of the crisis we have seen flight - to - safety flows into banknotes, and away from the deposits held with – by 2 / 6 bis central bankers'speeches then, mistrusted - banks. finally, central banks will continue playing a key role in contributing to the smooth functioning of the payments system and being active in overseeing this part of the financial sector which is crucial to allow economic agents using the money they hold. with this, i think, central banks will be very much in the business of making sure money performs well on each of the three functions we typically attribute to it, namely being a unit of account, a store of value and a medium of exchange. at first sight, there is nothing new here, which confirms what i said earlier about the future finding its roots in the past. still, it is worth having a closer look at each of these central bank activities, as i think they are subject to changes, be it as a direct consequence of the crisis or because other trends have affected the economy, the financial system or the wider society. let me start with monetary policy and its focus on price stability. that focus served us well during the crisis. by counterbalancing the disinflation, we avoided the fisher type of debt deflation effects and facilitated the necessary deleveraging process. it also helped us keeping control over the real rate, at a time controlling it was complicated by the fact that we had to operate very close to – if not at – the effective lower bound for nominal interest rates. this was not only helpful from a macroeconomic perspective but was, i think, also favourable for financial stability. of course, our ‘ low for long ’ poses challenges for financial institutions and can lead to specific risks for financial stability. yet, i do think