jean - claude trichet : remarks on the occasion of the european banker of the year award speech by mr jean - claude trichet, president of the european central bank, at the award ceremony organised by the group of 20 + 1, frankfurt am main, 17 november 2009. * * * mr prime minister, ladies and gentlemen, i am very pleased to be here again this year and to be paying tribute to jean - claude juncker, prime minister of luxembourg and president of the eurogroup. as regards the “ european banker of the year ” award, i warmly congratulate both jeanclaude juncker and the jury for this decision. my main aim for today is to say how honouring jean - claude juncker is a very good choice for many reasons. i have known prime minister juncker for many, many years and we have cooperated ever more closely : first in the general european context ; then through my association with the eurogroup ; and finally in the current crisis, where governments and central banks have stood shoulder to shoulder. let me briefly review mr juncker ’ s career and achievements. born in the western part of luxemburg, mr juncker studied law and earned his degree at strasbourg university in 1979. a brilliant and dazzling rise followed : mr juncker became member of the government at the age of 28, first as secretary of state and afterwards minister for labour. he was appointed finance minister at 35 and prime minister at 41. throughout his career, mr juncker has been committed to europe and participated in the birth of the euro, being one of the major architects of the maastricht treaty. his european convictions came to the fore in 2005, when he submitted the constitutional treaty to referendum, putting his own premiership on the line. with luxembourg nestled between two large countries, mr juncker is a very visible representative of his country in the international arena. at the same time, he is widely appreciated as a very efficient behind - the - scenes negotiator on european issues, not least because he can see them from both the german and the french perspective. he once said – i quote here from the laudatory statement on the occasion of mr juncker being awarded the charlemagne prize in 2006 – that “ institutional life in europe is a bit like life in the animal kingdom – a flea can drive a lion crazy, but there is no known example of a lion driving a flea crazy. that shows how important it is to find the right balance between great

soient entendus partout de la meme maniere quand bien meme ils seront emis dans des langues differentes. je me rappelle une pensee du philosophe edgar morin qui disait que “ le genie europeen n ’ est pas seulement dans la pluralite et dans le changement, il est dans le dialogue des pluralites qui produit le changement ” ( penser l ’ europe ). c ’ est pourquoi jean - claude juncker, avec sa parfaite maitrise des langues, est bien place pour etre au coeur du dialogue des pluralites qui constituent l'universel europeen. luxemburg ist ein beispiel wie verschiedene sprachen und kulturen in einem land harmonisch miteinander leben, sich gegenseitig befruchten und zu einer gemeinsamen identitat finden. letzebuergesch, das zur deutschen sprachfamilie zahlt aber auch stark vom franzosischen beeinflusst wurde, ist ein gutes beispiel fur diese kulturelle synthese. in dieser weise kann man luxemburg als “ pars pro toto ” fur ganz europa sehen. vielleicht aus diesem grund war luxemburg die erste stadt, die zweimal zur “ europaischen kulturhauptstadt ” gekurt wurde. * * * given the current environment, i would also like to say a few words on the economic situation and recent developments. as you will recall from the press conference that followed the governing council meeting of 5 november 2009, both pillars of our monetary policy strategy indicate that inflationary pressures over the medium term are low. our assessment is therefore that the current stance of monetary policy, which encompasses both very low interest rates and a series of non - standard measures, remains appropriate. monetary policy thus continues to support the availability of liquidity in the financial system and the recovery of the euro area economy. having said this, improved conditions in financial markets imply that not all of our nonstandard measures will be needed to the same extent as before. the latest information and analyses are broadly in line with our expectations. while annual hicp inflation was slightly negative in october, it is