spectrum of activities and risks, based on an approach tailored to the degree of sophistication of financial market participants, both in the g10 and beyond. from a prudential standpoint, the ratio will capitalise on the progress already made in improving risk supervision and control, while making it easier to compare methods at the international level. accordingly, it is clearly important that credit institutions should actively pursue the work they have done so far. in this respect, i think it is safe to say that french banks operating in the international arena are making every effort to ready themselves for 2006. 3. 3 new accounting standards should foster international harmonisation and promote greater financial transparency the introduction of new accounting standards is a major undertaking for companies in general and for credit institutions in particular. the aim of this project is highly ambitious, namely to arrive at worldwide standards that can improve financial security and accounting transparency. this is necessary to restore confidence in financial markets. at the internal level, credit institutions must quickly adapt their information systems to these new requirements. however, there are in - depth discussions at present about the draft standards applicable to financial instruments. we have taken part in these discussions and advocated caution, in particular, in view of the strong temptation to give precedence to the markto - market and mark - to - model approaches, which are more sensitive to calculation parameters than to the actual situation of the reporting entity, with the result that earnings and equity likely to become abnormally volatile. i hope that the outcome of these discussions will lead to accounting procedures that take into consideration the realities of credit institutions ’ operations and business practices. as you are aware, the quality of the accounting rules applicable by banks is of fundamental importance for supervisors. moreover, the appendixes to this annual report include a study of the prudential consequences of the international accounting standards that will apply in europe from 2005 onwards. * in sum, french credit institutions in 2002 amply displayed their ability to withstand cyclical contingencies. improvements can still be made in terms of risk spreading and surveillance. this is one of the factors to which the commission bancaire will play close attention as banks prepare and phase in information systems ahead of the introduction of basel 2 and new accounting standards. in addition to the two studies i have already mentioned, the appendices of the annual report include a review of risk management in financial conglomerates. let me also mention that a summary of the commission bancaire ’ s judicial decisions is being published at the same

to ensure fiscal discipline. in other words, in the famous rules / discretion debate, we need indeed more discretion - but not too much ; and we need less mechanical or obscure rules, but we still need rules. the set - up should indeed ensure binding thresholds for the minimal annual adjustment of public finances. let me add that the more we progress effectively on national fiscal discipline, the easier we could envisage a common fiscal capacity – which we badly need. mario draghi eloquently advocated it recently, v and i wish it will be part of his new mission on competitiveness in europe. to conclude, let me borrow a fundamental principle from physics, stated by isaac newton : " when two forces unite, their efficiency double ". well, it is time to combine the two forces of our monetary and fiscal policy, towards a greater efficiency of our euro area economy and to the benefit of our citizens. thank you for your attention. i press release : governors and heads of supervision endorse initiatives in response to the banking turmoil and reaffirm priority to implement basel iii. ii eurogroup statement on the euro area fiscal stance for 2024, press release, 13 july 2023. iii c. bouthevillain, s. debu, towards a much - needed reform of eu fiscal rules : the european commission's proposals, banque de france bulletin no. 246 : article 2, 21 june 2023.. iv x. debrun, l. jonung, under threat : rules - based fiscal policy and how to preserve it, european journal of political economy. v the economist, mario draghi on the path to fiscal union in the euro zone, 6 september 2023. 3 / 3 bis - central bankers'speeches