european central bank press conference introductory statements introductory statements given by mr willem f duisenberg, president of the european central bank, and mr christian noyer, vice - president of the european central bank, at the press conference held in madrid on 30 march 2000. * * * ladies and gentlemen, today, the governing council of the ecb met for the first time outside frankfurt. therefore, let me first of all thank our host, governor rojo, for inviting us to meet in madrid and for the generous hospitality offered to us. the vice - president and i will report on the outcome of today ’ s meeting of the governing council. i should like to take the opportunity of this special meeting to take stock of where we stand 15 months after the start of monetary union. in january 1999 the euro was successfully launched as the single currency for 11 member states of the eu. as a result of very careful conceptual and technical preparations, both the monetary policymaking process and the implementation of monetary policy have functioned efficiently right from the start. the challenges involved in setting up a central bank for a currency area as large as the euro area have been enormous. the eurosystem - which comprises the european central bank and the 11 national central banks of the countries which have adopted the euro - has met these challenges with success. this would not have been possible without a strong willingness to cooperate on the part of the actors involved. i should like to take this opportunity once again to thank all the members of the governing council and the staff of the eurosystem for this. from the start, we had extremely productive and open discussions in the governing council on monetary policy issues. in this respect, our monetary policy strategy has provided a very useful framework within which to organise our thinking. in our discussions there has always been a clear understanding, based on the treaty, that the single monetary policy can only focus on maintaining price stability in the euro area as a whole. this is based on the simple fact that in a monetary union, there is only one monetary policy, and this must be directed to a single objective. as laid down in the treaty, each member of the governing council is therefore well aware that he or she is not a representative of a country or central bank but acts in a personal capacity in deciding the appropriate conduct of monetary policy for the euro area as a whole. the move to the single currency and the introduction of the euro were based on a degree of convergence towards price stability in participating countries that few observers would

financial markets, allowing domestic and international investors to allocate economic resources more efficiently. and it lowers the cost of global capital market financing for euro area borrowers, including corporations, financial institutions and public entities, thus benefiting firms, households and taxpayers. of course, the international role of the euro also brings challenges, such as greater exposure to global foreign financial developments and potential changes to the monetary policy transmission process. the international benefits of sharing a currency go beyond the monetary sphere. in a world with deep economic and financial interlinkages, international cooperation is essential and we can more effectively promote european ideas and interests by speaking together. indeed, the euro area ’ s voice has been crucial in strengthening the international financial regulatory framework after the global financial crisis. today, the single supervisory mechanism is the largest banking supervisor globally and successfully contributes to shaping the international supervisory framework. since the global financial and euro area debt crises, however, the euro ’ s international role seems to have gradually eroded. while its importance as the currency of invoice for international trade transactions has remained broadly stable, its role in global foreign reserves and global debt markets has declined. this decline is a symptom of the fault lines in emu exposed by the crises. concerns about the resilience of the emu architecture and about financial fragmentation underpinned this erosion. indeed, stability, financial depth and liquidity are among the key determinants of an international currency. european policymakers are now paying closer attention and various calls have been made in recent months for the euro to assume a stronger international role. the euro summit of 2 / 4 bis central bankers'speeches december 2018 encouraged work to be taken forward to this end. the international role of the euro is supported by the pursuit of sound economic policies in the euro area and a deeper and more complete emu. and this requires further efforts along the path of deeper integration. completing the economic and monetary union the past 20 years have revealed beyond doubt how challenging ensuring economic prosperity and stability can be. this was true both inside and outside the euro area. nonetheless, these years also demonstrated that such a shared challenge is best faced collectively. to realise in full the benefits of the euro, we need to have the same components that made the euro a reality in 1999. on the one hand, we need national reforms to promote sustainable economic convergence. under any monetary system, higher growth potential can only be achieved through continuous reform efforts. as the convergence process is primarily driven by structural factors,