christian noyer : where are we 11 months before e - day? speech delivered by christian noyer, vice - president of the european central bank, on the occasion of the forum " tremplin pour l'euro " in courchevel, france, on 2 february 2001 * * * ladies and gentlemen, just over two years ago, the european union adopted its own single currency. less than 11 months from today, we will be paying with euro banknotes and coins in our everyday transactions. by many measures, this development could justifiably be considered an achievement of historic proportions. with the arrival of euro banknotes and coins, the process of introducing a single european currency initiated in maastricht in 1991 will finally be complete. today, the minds of european central bankers, the banking community and many other interested parties are certainly focused on the immense organisational and logistical task entailed by the cash changeover. allow me nevertheless to briefly reflect on some of the developments that the euro has already triggered. first of all, the irrevocable fixing of exchange rates between the participating currencies and the introduction of the euro on 1 january 1999 can rightly be considered as the " crowning " of the single market. the euro is indeed " one money for one market ", as the studies supporting the original delors report succinctly put it. the euro has undoubtedly become an important catalyst in promoting the further integration of product and capital markets of euro area economies. more importantly, the policy - makers in the member states have realised that being part of a monetary union will not only produce substantial economic benefits. it also imposes certain constraints on their own policies. rigidities in labour and product markets, inappropriate fiscal policies and fragmented regulatory frameworks all have a negative impact on the economic conditions, proper functioning and growth potential of the euro area as a whole. tackling these challenges has become a clear political priority over the last few years. the ecb's success in maintaining price stability has certainly provided - and continues to provide - a crucial foundation for these efforts, by stabilising inflation expectations and instilling a " stability consensus " across europe. in this sense, the euro is one factor which is continuing to push euro area economies towards more balanced budgets and greater competitiveness. another important aspect of the transformation of the european economy that has been stimulated by the advent of the single currency is the increasing financial integration within the euro area. indeed, from

yves mersch : remarks on the future of economic governance in europe and the euro introductory address by mr yves mersch, member of the executive board of the european central bank, at the panel “ the agenda for europe ”, at ambrosetti's finance forum on “ the outlook for the economy and finance ”, villa d ’ este, cernobbio, 8 april 2017. * * * in a year of anniversaries – the sixtieth anniversary of the rome treaty and the twentyfifth anniversary of the maastricht treaty –, our union finds itself amidst a debate about its raison d ’ etre and its future. earlier this week, the eu commission discussed in strasbourg “ a road map towards a complete economic and monetary union in 2025 ” as part of a “ reflection paper ”. in january, the high - level group on own resources ( hlgor ) chaired by mario monti has been presented in the european parliament and in the council. it is reflecting on finding more transparent, simple, fair and democratically accountable ways to finance the eu. and we are approaching the second stage of the “ five presidents ’ report ” with the aim of completing the architecture of economic and monetary union. as a central banker, i will focus on the state of economic governance in europe. i will first share some considerations on what has been achieved so far. i will then discuss how we could further improve the functioning of our economic and monetary union in the future and invigorate trust and support from european citizens. the key role of monetary policy in stabilising the euro area economy as the central bank issuing the euro, we are responsible for the stability of the single currency. our monetary policy measures played a key role in stabilising the european economy. the european central bank acted decisively by deploying a range of conventional and unconventional monetary policy measures, allowing to reduce financial fragmentation, avoid deflation, and support price stability and thereby the economic recovery. while an effective lower bound for short - term interest rates exists, monetary policy, shifted to steering medium to long - term rates despite of its higher dependency on international capital markets. the ecb employed non - standard measures including forward guidance and asset purchases to deal with the lower bound constraint. these instruments have been effective in narrowing spreads ( term and liquidity premia ) and lowering the exchange rates, thus supporting the ongoing recovery. shortcomings in other policy fields delayed the recovery the economic outlook has