continued to provide policymakers with valuable new insights. i have come to know you and hold you high regard from various research conferences, and i am very grateful to you for being a member of the bundesbank ’ s research council. i have always enjoyed our discussions so far, and look forward to hearing the “ food for thought ” you have brought for us today. 4 helmut siekmann this is something of a home game for helmut siekmann, as, for many years, he held the endowed chair of money, currency and central bank law at the imfs here at frankfurt university, who are kindly hosting today ’ s event. for some time, helmut siekmann also headed the institute as its managing director, and, since 2018, he has been distinguished professor at the imfs. his body of research spans the entire spectrum of public law. furthermore, helmut siekmann has lent his expertise to legislative projects and also represented both federal and state governments before constitutional courts. he has also written and contributed to numerous publications, and his 2013 commentary on european monetary union, which he edited, carries special weight among his works. and the reason is not only that the book counts more than 1, 500 pages, which makes it well visible on my bookshelf. much more importantly, it has become a standard work for legal experts. professor siekmann, you have also undertaken extensive work on non - standard monetary policy – for instance, most recently, concerning the ruling of the federal constitutional court on the public sector purchase programme ( pspp ) of may this year. it ’ s no secret that you hold a critical view of the eurosystem ’ s asset purchases. but i don ’ t ( tonne ) want to give away too much. footnotes : 1. duisenberg, w. f. ( 1998 ), the escb ’ s stability - oriented monetary policy strategy, speech delivered at the institute of european affairs, 10 november 1998, https : / / www. ecb. europa. eu / press / key / date / 1998 / html / sp981110. en. html 2. weidmann, j. ( 2020 ), change and continuity, speech delivered at deutsche borse ’ s new year ’ s reception, 3 february 2020, https : / / www. bundesbank. de / en / press / speeches / change - andcontinuity - 824754 3. issing, o. ( 2003 )

30 / 09 / 2020 introductory panel statement | deutsche bundesbank introductory panel statement speech at the institute for monetary and financial stability “ ecb and its watchers xxi conference ” 30. 09. 2020 | frankfurt am main | jens weidmann 1 introduction 2 christian noyer 3 jordi gali 4 helmut siekmann 1 introduction chere christine, good morning ladies and gentlemen, i am delighted to moderate the ﬁrst debate today. dear volker, thank you very much for your invitation and for organising this conference as a hybrid event. in times like these, we are becoming more and more experienced in communicating virtually. nevertheless, there is always a lingering sense of uncertainty about whether the technical set - up will work properly. before our single monetary policy started, there may also have been doubts about whether the eurosystem could fulﬁl its mandate to maintain price stability. looking back now – on more than 21 years of monetary policy and also “ ecb watching ” – the eurosystem has delivered on the promise made to the people of europe to keep prices stable. this has been a truly remarkable success. one key element in this has been the clarity of the mandate itself. in late 1998, the ecb ’ s ﬁrst president, wim duisenberg, outlined the strategy for the single monetary policy in a speech. he started from his conviction that, by maintaining price stability, “ monetary policy makes the https : / / www. bundesbank. de / en / press / speeches / introductory - panel - statement - 846034 1 / 5 30 / 09 / 2020 introductory panel statement | deutsche bundesbank greatest possible contribution towards raising the standard of living of europe ’ s citizens and improving growth and employment prospects ”. [ 1 ] this fundamental tenet also inspired the european treaties, which enshrine price stability as our primary objective. so to answer the question raised in the title of our session : the mandate needs no modiﬁcation when viewed from this perspective. at any rate, the eurosystem takes its mandate as a given. and our actions will continue to be geared towards achieving our overriding objective of price stability. however, the treaties are silent on how to deﬁne or measure price stability. nor do they specify a reaction function for monetary policy or a hierarchy of instruments needed to ensure price stability. nor do they tell us how to communicate with the public. choices like these constitute the monetary policy strategy. given the profound changes