european trade route – from paris to russia via frankfurt and leipzig – and for centuries has attracted people from all over the continent to its famous trade fairs. in the middle ages, as many as 40, 000 people would come here to exchange their wares – a number that exceeded the total population of “ francofurtia ” at that time. frankfurt has for centuries been a truly european financial centre, too. the development of the frankfurt borse in the late 16th century, for example, was a joint effort between locals and traders from the low countries and italy. 1 today, around four out of five 1 / 4 bis central bankers'speeches banks located in frankfurt are from other countries. and frankfurt has often been a european leader in the arts and design. a century ago, this was the home of the “ neue frankfurt ” programme – led by the mayor ludwig landmann and the city planner ernst may – which gave frankfurt a worldwide reputation as a centre of the avant - garde in urban planning and architecture. and as part of that programme, the famous “ frankfurter kuche ” was designed by margarete schutte - lihotzky, an innovation that would go on to be used all over the western world. so it is no wonder that frankfurt is now called the “ europastadt ”. it is the city of the euro and the home of the ecb. it is still the crossroads of our continent, housing the busiest cargo airport in europe and the world ’ s largest trade fair. and it is a truly international place : almost 30 % of people living in frankfurt are non - germans and another 25 % are germans with a migratory background. in other words, frankfurt has succeeded by being dynamic internally, but open externally ; by being proud of its history and traditions, but welcoming of new people and ideas. it is a model of how european cooperation can make us stronger – and it is no surprise that, thanks to your generosity and openness, i have felt immediately at home here. in recognition of that, i truly intend – as president of the ecb – for my institution to reflect the spirit of this community and to play an active part in it. we will be open, transparent and accessible. we will try to talk in a language that everyone can understand. and we will listen, too, and hear people ’ s concerns. one of my priorities as president of the european central bank is to strengthen the bond between the bank and the people of europe : you, and

we have common rules to prevent a race to the bottom on standards. and we have a common currency that prevents competitive devaluations. the eu and the euro are not incidental to our prosperity, in other words. they are the vital ingredients that protect our single market and thereby safeguard our way of life. and what is true internally can also be true externally. it ’ s clear that cooperating within europe gives us a stronger voice in negotiations with other countries, as we saw for example during the paris climate talks a few years ago. and, in a world where multilateralism is under threat, working together as a union becomes even more important – it is the only way for middle - sized countries to stand up to large regional players and defend our common interests, including by setting standards to protect our privacy and our data, for example. collectively, the eu accounts for 22 % of global gdp3 second only to the united states, and eu trade makes up 17 % of world trade, compared with around 14 % for the united states. it ’ s plain to see that this gives us more weight on the world stage than any country acting alone, if only we can together leverage our collective market force. so we have a huge potential, as europeans, to build on this external side of our community. this does not mean compromising our european values of inclusiveness and international cooperation. it means being open to the world but confident in ourselves ; being friendly to all, but ready to protect our interests when necessary. conclusion so is such a europe possible? i have every confidence that it is. we have new presidents in all the main eu institutions who, i believe, understand this moment and the need for europe to step up. all european leaders see that the world around us is shifting and demanding that we reset our ambitions. but if we are to move forward, the impetus needs to come from the bottom up as well as the top 3 / 4 bis central bankers'speeches down. european integration must be grounded in the assent of its citizens. that brings me back to frankfurt and this region. i truly hope that cities like this one – that have always taken the lead in european cooperation – can support this process and imbue it with the renewed energy it needs. if so, the start of this new decade could be a moment when a new european character emerges – a moment when we recapture the pioneering spirit that led this region to become a centre of european trade, of european finance and