member states entered into a political commitment, and the european commission is now proposing to create a single supervisory mechanism for banks in the euro area and to entrust this task to the ecb. this single supervisory mechanism should be implemented in a way that does not compromise the ecb ’ s independence and does not constrain monetary policy. it should be complemented by a single regime to wind down failed banks and by a single resolution fund at euro area level. finally, building a deeper emu requires a strengthening of democratic legitimacy and accountability. the people of europe will only accept a further pooling of competences at european level if european policy - makers are subject to high standards of accountability. bis central bankers ’ speeches the european parliament, whose representatives are directly elected by citizens, already plays a central role in holding the ecb and other eu institutions to account. as a consequence of deeper economic and political integration in emu, the euro area will become, in my view, more and more a “ political space ” in its own right and, as such, it will require proper euro area accountability mechanisms. political legitimacy is vital to build popular support for further integration. 4. conclusion ladies and gentlemen, when robert schuman drafted the declaration that started the european integration process, he predicted that “ europe will not be made all at once, or according to a single plan. it will be built through concrete achievements which first create a de facto solidarity ”. when looking at europe ’ s progress since the second world war and the step - by - step building of emu, we can indeed see that what holds europe together, what has been its engine, and the reason for its success, is the notion of solidarity. solidarity is sometimes narrowed down to mean one - way support, from donor to recipient. of course this has always been a key consideration in the european construction. the eu structural funds, which go to europe ’ s poorer regions, are a very tangible measure of this kind of solidarity. likewise, the european crisis mechanisms efsf and esm are a symbol of euro area solidarity. solidarity is not just a catch - phrase in emu ; it is essential for all. let me come back to schuman ’ s insight that “ concrete achievements first create a de facto solidarity ”. we have reached a point in the history of europe where de facto solidarity has created a need for concrete achievements. in recent years we have made impressive progress in putting emu ’ s architecture on a

, the domestic provision of liquidity via refinancing operations and asset purchases combined with liquidity inflows from other countries led to a considerable increase in deposits during the past year : liabilities related to monetary policy operations were up by €458. 5 billion compared with the end of 2019, hitting €1, 018. 8 billion – in other words, nearly doubling. euro - denominated balances of domestic and foreign depositors reported in liability items 3, 4 and 5 were likewise higher on the back of larger general government and foreign central bank holdings, rising by €202. 4 billion to €474. 0 billion. just under one - third of all deposits of credit institutions throughout the eurosystem continue to be held with the bundesbank. the value of banknotes issued by the bundesbank also rose further, climbing by €71. 5 billion to €821. 0 billion, an increase of 9. 5 %. the revaluation accounts are also worth taking a look at. this item increased by €17. 5 billion year on year to €161. 8 billion. the revaluation reserve for gold rose by €20. 4 billion to €159. 0 billion. the price of gold in euro as at the end of 2020 exceeded the previous year ’ s figure by around 14 %. viewed over the long term, there is a sustained marked increase in the revaluation reserve for gold. compared with its starting balance at the launch of monetary union ( €21 billion as at 1 january 1999 ), this revaluation reserve is, with a current balance of €159. 0 billion, around eight 1 / 2 bis central bankers'speeches times as large as it was at the start of january 1999. the revaluation reserves for foreign currencies shrank by over half due to the stronger euro, year on year, with the bulk of the decrease, totalling €3. 1 billion, being attributable to the us dollar. the exchange rate of the euro against the us dollar rose from us $ 1. 1234 to us $ 1. 2271. allow me to conclude with a brief overview of the profit and loss account. the main component of the profit and loss account is net interest income, which recorded a €1. 8 billion decrease from €4. 6 billion to €2. 9 billion. this is notably down to the €1. 4 billion increase