mario draghi : building the bridge to a stable european economy speech by mr mario draghi, president of the european central bank, at the annual event “ day of the german industries ”, organised by the federation of german industries, berlin, 25 september 2012. * * * ladies and gentlemen, it is a privilege to be invited to address the bundesverband der deutschen industrie this afternoon. the bdi in many ways mirrors the strengths of the german economy. it simultaneously represents global multinationals and family - owned small businesses. it is this combination of small, medium and large firms that gives german industry its uniqueness and resilience. and this has been rewarded in recent years through strong growth and high employment. the euro area as a whole has been facing challenging times. financial markets are fragmented. economic growth has been broadly flat for the first half of 2012. growth also remains highly uneven, with some parts of the euro area economy expanding at a solid pace, while others are still in a phase of adjustment. but my central message to you today is that, provided that all policy - makers persevere with the necessary reforms, we have a number of reasons to be positive about where the euro area is heading. we are seeing signs of improved sentiment in financial markets and we expect the economy to return to growth next year. at the same time, considerable progress is being made on all fronts to strengthen the foundations of the euro area. above all, the member states of the euro area are undertaking determined measures to address the root causes of our current challenges. individually, governments are implementing the fiscal and structural reforms essential for growth. collectively, they are reforming the governance of the euro area so as to guarantee sound policies for the future. we at the european central bank ( ecb ) are continuing to maintain price stability, which is the foundation of growth and job creation. we have introduced new measures to ensure price stability by removing unfounded fears about the euro area. these measures are supporting financial market sentiment while deeper reforms are implemented across the euro area. however, our measures can only build a bridge towards a more stable future. it must be completed with decisive measures by governments to address fundamental challenges and complete the euro area ’ s institutional architecture. they are currently making progress in this direction. the key challenge going forward is to ensure that the immediate upturn strengthens rather than weakens this commitment. actions by the member states to strengthen the euro area ’ s foundations let me begin with

a digital euro would also generate synergies with other elements of our strategy, facilitating the digitalisation of information exchange in payments through e - invoices, e - receipts, e - identity and esignature. and in making it easier for intermediaries to provide added value and advanced technological features at lower cost, it would give rise to products that could compete with those of the big techs, thereby benefitting end users. the ecb and the national central banks have started preliminary experimentation through four work streams. first, we will test the compatibility between a digital euro and existing central bank settlement services ( such as tips ). [ 28 ] second, we will explore the interconnection between decentralised technologies, such as distributed ledgers, and centralised systems. third, we will investigate the use of payment - dedicated blockchains with electronic identity. and fourth, we will assess the functionalities of hardware devices that could enable offline transactions, guaranteeing privacy. we will take the necessary time to explore all aspects of different options : whether they are technically feasible, whether they comply with the principles and policy objectives of the eurosystem, and whether they satisfy the needs of prospective users. conclusion let me conclude. the digital transformation is triggering a revolution in the financial sector, which will bring innovation but also risks. in particular, big techs and stablecoins could disrupt the european financial system. and while they could offer convenient and efficient payment solutions, they also risk endangering competition, privacy, financial stability and even monetary sovereignty. our policies provide a forceful policy reaction to the digital shock. we want to create the conditions for a resilient, innovative, diverse and competitive payments landscape that can better serve the evolving needs of european people and businesses. we are promoting safe, pan - european instant payments. what is at stake is nothing short of the future of money. as private money goes digital, sovereign money also needs to be reinvented. this requires central bank money to remain available under all circumstances – in the form of cash, of course, but also potentially as a digital euro. we want to enable people to choose their preferred way of paying without having to compromise on their expectations of fast, secure, inclusive and seamless payments. this is our aim today, and it will remain our aim in the future. [ 1 ] the data refer to european citizens aged 18 or over and include point - of - sale, person - to - person