which we intend to terminate on 21 january 1999. concerning the decision to set the level of the interest rate for the first main refinancing operation of the escb at 3 %, it may be recalled that on 3 december 1998, in a coordinated decision, all national central banks participating in the single monetary policy lowered their key interest rates to 3 % ( with the exception of the banca d ’ italia, which reduced the discount rate to 3. 5 % ). as explained by the ecb at that time, this joint reduction had to be seen as a de facto decision on the level of interest rates with which the escb will start stage three and which it intended to maintain for the foreseeable future. it was based on the common assessment that these interest rate reductions are in line with maintaining price stability in the euro area over the medium term. in this connection, it is to be pointed out that a rate of 3 % is very low by historical standards. this should be seen as a clear indication that the escb does not want to give any signal for a further easing in the foreseeable future. at today ’ s meeting, taking account of the latest monetary, financial and economic data, the governing council confirmed these views. at this juncture, there are no signs to suggest that current rates of increase in the hicp of around 1 % would either decelerate significantly or, conversely, accelerate to levels which are inconsistent with the definition of price stability provided by the escb in october 1998. let me provide you with a more detailed record of our assessment. the information coming from the data on monetary aggregates signals a relatively smooth path for m3 growth in 1998, compatible with continued price stability. in particular, the latest three - month moving average annual growth rate of m3 stood at around 4. 5 %. this was exactly in line with the reference value set by the governing council at its last meeting. with respect to the other pillar of the escb ’ s monetary policy strategy, the broadly based assessment of the outlook for price developments and risks to price stability, various indicators confirm the assessment of developments in monetary data. the further reduction of long - term interest rates by almost 20 basis points since the end of november to a level of 3. 9 % on 21 december, as well as the downward shift in the yield curve, can be regarded as a sign that markets expect the environment of price stability to continue. from the point of view of the governing council,

jose manuel gonzalez - paramo : the euro exhibition address by mr jose manuel gonzalez - paramo, member of the executive board of the european central bank, at the opening ceremony for the euro exhibition at the museum fur kommunikation, berlin, 19 november 2009. * * * ladies and gentlemen, distinguished ambassadors and members of parliament, it is a great pleasure for me to be here in berlin, at the beautiful premises of the museum fur kommunikation to inaugurate “ the euro exhibition ”. i would like to thank the museum for its fruitful cooperation with the european central bank, which has given us the opportunity to display our euro exhibition here. this year we are celebrating the tenth anniversary of the euro. let ’ s take a look back at the short but memorable history of our common currency. on 1 january 1999 stage three of economic and monetary union began with the irrevocable fixing of the exchange rates of the currencies of the 11 member states initially forming the euro area. the number of countries participating in economic and monetary union has grown over the years. today, the euro banknotes and coins are legal tender in 16 of the 27 member states of the european union and are used daily by almost 330 million citizens in the euro area. the single currency is used in an area that stretches from cyprus to ireland and from portugal to finland. we are actually celebrating another anniversary this year. it is 20 years since the process of german reunification began and we all remember 9 november 1989 as the day which marked the fall of the berlin wall. let ’ s not forget that berlin itself is a city that occupies a special place in german and european history. indeed, currencies can play an important role in shaping a national identity and the deutsche mark is one of the strongest symbols of german reunification. the foundations for political reunification were laid by the treaty establishing monetary, economic and social union, which came into force on 1 july 1990 and enabled the east german mark to be converted into the highly regarded deutsche mark. these days it is the euro that is shaping a european identity. for many, the euro only became a reality when the euro banknotes and coins first entered into circulation on 1 january 2002, replacing national currencies like the deutsche mark. in the eight years that we have been using the euro in our day to day lives, once complex transactions have now become effortless : there is no need to exchange money within the euro area and transferring money within