sometimes had occasion to repeat in recent years : “ que voulons - nous en instituant une banque? nous voulons, non pas donner des benefices a des particuliers, non pas enrichir des actionnaires, mais nous instituons une banque dans l'interet public, dans l'interet general ”. ( what is our intention in setting up a bank? we do not want to give profits to individuals, nor do we want to enrich shareholders ; we are establishing a bank in the public interest, in the general interest ). like the other central banks of the day, however, the bank did combine functions in the public interest with commercial activities. the book being published today describes the long and sometimes bumpy road, leading from the issuing and discount institution created in the mid 19th century to the modern central bank which the national bank of belgium gradually became in the course of the 20th century. over the years, the bank underwent a metamorphosis, shaped by developments in the monetary and financial system, changing attitudes towards the role of government in economic life, and changes in the international context. it gradually phased out its commercial activities, becoming increasingly public in character, especially just before and just after world war ii. and the bank ’ s activities became international in scope. nowadays, the national bank of belgium performs its functions as a modern central bank within a european context : issuing banknotes, defining and implementing monetary policy, managing the official foreign exchange reserves, overseeing the payment systems and contributing to the stability of the financial sector. the bank has been a member of the eurosystem ever since it was launched in 1999. the national bank of belgium has always been pro - european. in accordance with our country ’ s motto, we believe that in union there is strength. at the national bank of belgium we are not at all nostalgic for a monetary sovereignty which has in any case become illusory in highly integrated small and medium - sized economies. the switch to a single monetary policy, decided on by the governing council of the european central bank, has not meant any loss of monetary power for belgium. quite the reverse. in reality, since the day when the government and the bank decided, fifteen years ago, to peg the belgian franc to the most stable european currency, belgium was in reality already importing its monetary policy from frankfurt. the difference is that, while our

1. european semester conference inter - parliamentary conference on stability, economic coordination and governance in the eu strategic investment and reforms in view of enhancing eu ’ s growth potential opening keynote by pierre wunsch, governor of the national bank of belgium as prepared for delivery • it is an honour to open this session on strategic investment and reforms to boost eu ’ s growth potential. in these uncertain times, this is an even more daunting challenge than ever before. • it is of course impossible to do justice to the richness and complexity of the matter in ten minutes. i can therefore only be impressionistic as monet, the painter, would have been. • at least since the turn of the century, europe has been keenly aware of the structural constraints impinging on its economic dynamism. typically, the policy response has been framed in terms of multi - year plans implying “ more europe ” supported by a grand vision and very often big funding announcements in support of transformative projects or policies. • some of us remember the objective of the lisbon strategy, adopted in 2000, which ambitioned to turn the eu into ( i quote ) “ the most competitive and dynamic knowledge - based economy in the world. ” all this was to be achieved by 2010 thanks to coordinated and ambitious structural reforms. a similar approach was behind the “ europe 2020 ” agenda in 2010 or the commission ’ s investment plan for europe in 2014 ( or juncker plan ) which aimed at encouraging more than 300 billion euro in additional investment over 3 years. • the most recent incarnation of that think - big - spend - big paradigm are the ngeu and fit for 55 ambitions. once again, a cocktail of massive investment and structural reforms should make the eu world champions, this time on the climate front, while still boosting growth and sustainable public finances. • now, do not get me wrong : we do need structural reforms, and more investments and sound public finances, as much as we need a banking union, a capital market union, a fiscal union, and what not. • but there is a growing feeling, impression, and maybe even a consensus that we are lagging behind … behind our own ambitions, but also behind the us and others when it comes to investment, innovation and growth. • recently, the title of an article was reading ( i did not read the article, one does not do that anymore, but i should have tweeted about it ) : “ the us innovates, china imitate