jean - claude trichet : the euro @ 10 – achievements and responsibilities remarks by mr jean - claude trichet, president of the european central bank, at the ceremony of the european parliament to mark the 10th anniversary of the euro, strasbourg, 13 january 2009. * * * mr president, honourable members of the european parliament, it is an immense honour and a great pleasure for me to take part in this celebration of one of europe ’ s most momentous achievements, the euro. one of europe ’ s founding fathers – jean monnet – once said : “ when an idea meets the needs of the time, it ceases to belong to its creators and becomes more powerful than those responsible for it ”. and he added : “ there is no such thing as premature ideas, there are only ripe times that one should wait for ”. for decades, the single european currency was merely an idea shared by a few people. many others said that it could not be done, or that it was bound to fail. today, the single currency is a reality for 329 million citizens. the creation of the euro will one day be seen as a decisive step on the long path towards an “ ever closer union ” among the people of europe. since the introduction of the euro, fellow europeans have enjoyed a level of price stability which previously had been achieved in only a few of the euro area countries. this price stability is a direct benefit to all citizens. it protects incomes and savings, and it helps to bring down borrowing costs, thus promoting investment, job creation and prosperity over the medium and long term. the single currency has been a factor of dynamism for the european economy. it has enhanced price transparency, increased trade, and promoted economic and financial integration within the euro area and with the rest of the world. in recent months we have seen another benefit of the euro : the financial crisis is demonstrating that in turbulent financial waters it is better to be on a large, solid and steady ship rather than on a small vessel. would europe have been able to act as swiftly, decisively and coherently if we did not have the single currency uniting us? would we have been able to protect many separate national currencies from the fallout of the financial crisis? i believe that we can be proud of the reaction of european authorities, parliaments, governments and central banks. together we have shown that europe is capable of taking decisions, even in the most difficult circumstances. we owe the historic success of the euro to

. remember that lockdowns are a non - economic shock that affects productive and unproductive firms indiscriminately. policies that protect viable businesses until activity can return to normal will help our productive capacity, not harm it. the right policy mix is essential. fiscal policy has to remain at the centre of the stabilisation effort – the draft budgetary plans suggest that fiscal support next year will be significant and broadly similar to this year, and the next generation eu package should become operational without delay. supervisory authorities are working to ensure that banks can continue to support the recovery by readying them for a potential deterioration in asset quality. 10 and structural policies have to be stepped up so that policy support can accompany the wide - ranging changes that the pandemic will bring, such as an accelerating spread of digitalisation and a renewed focus on climate issues. 11 the outlook for monetary policy so what is the role of monetary policy in this response? it is clear that downside risks to the economy have increased. the impact of the pandemic is now likely to continue to weigh on economic activity well into 2021. moreover, demand weakness and economic slack are weighing on inflation, which is expected to remain in negative territory for longer than previously thought. this is partially due to temporary factors, but the fall in measures of underlying inflation also appears to be connected to the weakening of activity. and developments in the exchange rate may have a negative impact on the path of inflation. continued policy support is therefore necessary to achieve our inflation aim. but we should also consider how best to provide that support. the unusual nature of the recession and the unsteadiness of the recovery make assessing the inflation path harder than in normal times. shifts in consumption baskets caused by supply - side restrictions are creating significant noise in the inflation data. 12 and the stop - start nature of the recovery means the short - term path of inflation is surrounded by considerable uncertainty. in these conditions, it is vital that monetary policy underpins inflation dynamics by supporting demand and preventing second - round effects, where the negative pandemic shock to inflation feeds into wage and price - setting and becomes persistent. to that end, the best contribution monetary policy can make is to ensure favourable financing conditions for the whole economy. 4 / 6 bis central bankers'speeches two considerations are important here. first, while fiscal policy is active in supporting the economy, monetary policy has to minimise any “ crowding - out ” effects that might create negative spillovers for