monnet again once wrote : « personne ne peut encore dire aujourd ’ hui la forme qu ’ aura l ’ europe que nous vivrons demain, car le changement qui naitra du changement est imprevisible ». “ nobody can say today what will be the institutional framework of europe tomorrow because the future changes, which will be fostered by today ’ s changes, are unpredictable. ” i trust that today ’ s changes, triggered by the global crisis, are precisely one of those changes that jean monnet expected able to foster a new institutional framework. in any case, these are decisions which can be taken only by our democracies, by the people of europe to which we are accountable. whatever the future holds, you can be sure that the ecb governing council will continue to be faithful to its primary mandate and that the ecb, together with the eurosystem, will continue to be an anchor of stability and of confidence. bis central bankers ’ speeches i present my best and warmest wishes to mario draghi, my successor, who has given the governing council the benefit of his wisdom and experience during these last years. he has taken with all of us our collegial decisions. his eminent qualities will make his future captainship of the european monetary team, together with the executive board and the governing council, a great success. let me draw to a close on a personal note and express my thanks to all the people i have worked with over the years on the project of europe ’ s economic and monetary union. in particular today, i would like to pay tribute to my colleagues here at the ecb, the current and former executive board, governing council and general council members. i would like to pay tribute to all ecb staff. all members of staff have been decisive in the achievement of our primary goal. they deserve full appreciation and gratitude for all their dedication, commitment, professionalism and very hard work. the present calls for immediate action. the future calls for a vision of where we are going, a sense of direction. immediate action. goethe famously said : “ wissen ist nicht genug ; wir mussen es anwenden. wollen ist nicht genug ; wir mussen es tun! ” “ knowing is not enough ; we must apply. willing is not enough ; we must do. ” i think this applies admirably to the sense of action which should inspire europe in

the solid anchoring of inflation expectations over the next 10 years have been well preserved throughout the crisis. this is because we have kept an unwavering sense of our direction – price stability – thanks to our interest rate policy, whilst at the same time being alert in taking appropriate non - standard measures – full allotment of liquidity at fixed rates, purchase of covered bonds, and the securities market programme. and again, all decisions of the governing council have been taken in full independence. since the crisis began, i have thought of the qualities expected from central banks as being analogous with the two ethical virtues famously suggested by max weber nearly a century ago : the ethic of conviction and the ethic of responsibility. i proposed an analogy, to associate the “ standard ” measures with the ethic of conviction and the “ non - standard ” measures with the ethic of responsibility. it is equally important to preserve integrity between intention and action, and between action and consequences. our “ separation principle ” proposes a way to preserve both. max weber said himself : “ das bedeutet nicht, dass eine gesinnungsethik gleichzusetzen ist mit verantwortungslosigkeit oder dass eine verantwortungsethik gleichzusetzen ist mit prinzipienlosem opportunismus [ … ]. die gesinnungs - und die verantwortungsethik sind keine gegensatze, sondern erganzen einander. ” “ this is not to say that an ethic of ultimate ends is identical with irresponsibility or that an ethic of responsibility is identical with unprincipled opportunism ( … ). the ethic of conviction and the ethic of responsibility are not opposites. they are complementary to one another. ” bis central bankers ’ speeches the crisis has revealed fault lines in all major advanced economies of the world. the sustainability of their medium to long term strategies has been put into question. europe – and the euro area in particular – has shown positive fundamentals, on a consolidated basis, in particular, as regards its overall fiscal situation and domestic and external equilibrium. but on a country - to - country basis the major weakness of the economic and monetary union lies in its insufficient governance of the economic union, while the monetary union has delivered according to expectations. the need to strengthen economic governance is the