##monic power but strong values : europe has also been in the in the 20th century a pioneering model of social progress, combining lower levels of inequality with a higher level of public services, and a social safety net. it is now forging a pioneering environmental model for the 21st century. the fragmented international environment definitively needs new institutional skills … and to quote robert schuman again “ the contribution which an organised and living europe can bring to civilization is indispensable to the maintenance of peaceful relations ”. x * * * we live in the decade of decisive choices. the global order is confronted with a destructive triangle of “ fragmentation / isolation / confrontation ”. let us build a more promising perspective with an alternative triangle of “ competition / solidarity / cooperation ”, using the words of jacques delors, “ we need competition that stimulates, cooperation that strengthens, and solidarity that unites ”. xi europe has shown that this triangle could be made reality, despite page 8 sur 8 its history of rivalry and – yes – imperfection. thank you for listening to these personal thoughts i wanted to share with you in marrakech. the economist, how paranoid nationalism corrupts, 2nd september 2023. schuman declaration, may 1950. iii g20 - new delhi leaders'declaration final adoption, 9 september 2023. iv european parliament, eprs ideas paper, the future of multilateralism and strategic partnerships, september 2020. v speech by the president of the republic at the conference of ambassadors, 28 august 2023. vi palais royal initiative, report, 8 february 2011. vii palais royal initiative, ibid. viii jean - claude trichet, the future of the international monetary and financial system, politique etrangere, ifri, 2019. ix consolidated version of the treaty on european union, article 2. x schuman declaration, ibid. xi jacques delors, “ the single market, cornerstone of the eu “, tribune, notre europe - jacques delors institute, 22 november 2012. i ii

yves mersch : after the emu rescue – which way for europe? speech by mr yves mersch, governor of the central bank of luxembourg, at a lecture in memory of mr pierre werner, organised by the official monetary and financial institutions forum ( omfif ), london, 14 october 2010. * * * your excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, neither the european coal and steel community treaty of 1950, nor the 1957 treaty of rome dealt extensively with currency. this might have been because convertibility after world war ii was not very wide - spread and capital controls were the norm. belgium was one of the first countries to establish free movement of capital but only within a dual exchange rate regime. this particularity had been one of the reasons for luxembourg to emerge as a financial activities center for europe. the principle of fixed exchange rates had been a feature of the international framework for currency stability after world war ii for the economies of europe, north america and japan. the bretton woods system was based on gold and the us dollar as the predominant monetary standard and worked for several years with almost no frictions. by 1968 a new era of currency instability threatened when market turbulence forced the revaluation of the german mark and the devaluation of the french franc. these developments clearly revealed the weaknesses of the bretton woods system as well as the threats to the common market and specifically the common agricultural policy. ideas of a new european currency framework gained momentum and luxembourg ’ s prime minister werner, also minister of finance, was asked to steer a committee mandated to design the path to an increased economic and monetary integration of the six then members of the european economic community. that report, finished on the 8 october 1970 and sent to the ministers of finance in the first instance, laid down the achievement of economic and monetary union by 1980. the youngest member of the committee and the only one still alive is prof. dr. hans tietmeyer. it was he who at the first meeting of the governing council of the ecb insisted on the seating arrangements to be changed from countries in alphabetical order to members ’ family name in alphabetical order. in doing so, he was truly loyal to the spirit of the werner plan. in deed, if it took another 20 years after the werner plan deadline before a single currency was established –, for reasons that would take another conference to explain – it is worth revisiting the werner report finalized 40 years ago. we can call it truly visionary. although many