setting high regulatory standards. finally, european action needs to be fully legitimised. as part of our inter - institutional agreement with the european parliament and of our memorandum of understanding with the council, we are committed to very high standards of accountability, which compare favourably at international level. but let us not forget that our legitimacy crucially depends on the ability to fulfil the mandate that was democratically assigned to us. this requires our constant attention and continuous effort. conclusion let me conclude. while we celebrate today an important achievement, we need to be humble for the future and to ensure that we deliver on our tasks, old and new. the ecb has at the core of its mandate the protection of price stability. we now need to protect the economy in one additional way, by preventing excessive risks in the banking sector. protecting our fellow citizens as well as businesses from the dire effects of the crisis was the driving force behind the ‘ four presidents ’ report ’, which established a roadmap towards a genuine economic and monetary union. dear herman, you were the chef d ’ orchestre of our quartet. i believe it is no exaggeration to say that you have left your mark on history by masterfully conducting the discussions between european leaders which led to the creation of the banking union. this has been an inspiring first movement. while we enjoy today ’ s short entr ’ acte, we should also look ahead and prepare for the movements still to come, as we progress together towards a genuine economic and monetary union. bis central bankers ’ speeches

picture of the state of global preparations, and to help direct resources and attention to those regions that appear to be faltering in their efforts. we will use the information provided for our web site and the discussions with members of our external consultative committee as our primary resources in seeking to identify “ hot spots ” where more urgent efforts are needed. if we identify regions where more needs to be done, our first step will be to work through the relevant national financial supervisors and regulators to increase the urgency of efforts in their jurisdiction. we may also involve multilateral institutions, such as the world bank, to help increase national attention on the issue. i do not believe that calling public attention to problems in specific countries would be a constructive step for us to take at this stage as we are still trying to build cooperation and our current information is incomplete. in this context, i would also point out that the market itself will begin to bring strong pressures to bear on specific firms and markets that exhibit signs of being ill - prepared during the course of 1999. in conjunction with preparations for y2k, the recent discussion of the joint year 2000 council with the external consultative committee raised several important issues. first, in every national market there is the question of the dependence of the banking and financial sectors on core infrastructure such as telecommunications, power, water, sewer, and transportation. in all cases, it seems that it is not an everyday occurrence for representatives of these differing sectors to get together with financial sector representatives and discuss their mutual concerns. yet, this must be made a priority if financial firms and their counterparties are to achieve comfort that their own efforts to prepare for year 2000 will not be compromised by the failures of systems beyond their control. a representative of the international telecommunications union is a member of our external consultative committee. at our meeting earlier this month, he provided useful factual information on the preparations being undertaken by telecommunications firms and indicated that a further global survey and report on this topic is due to be completed soon. this is the type of information sharing that helps all parties understand the scope of the problem, as well as the efforts that others are undertaking. we intend to encourage further information sharing between the financial sector and core infrastructure providers at future meetings of the joint year 2000 council and the external consultative committee. i would also strongly encourage such mutual cooperation on y2k preparations within each national jurisdiction. another issue that some participants in our joint year 2000 council are concerned about in regard to preparations in their countries relates to the availability of