’ s recommendations for reform is a case in point : “ elle n ’ a pas a nous dicter ce que nous devons faire. ” and mutualising debt without mutualising control would exacerbate the tensions inherent in emu ’ s framework rather than eliminate them. it therefore would not resolve europe ’ s woes, but only make matters worse. it would not, in particular, preserve the currency union as a stability union. so for me, the only feasible way forward is to strengthen the framework laid down in the european treaties. this implies stiffening the fiscal rules which were stretched and ignored too often in the past, with germany being one of the culprits. the new stability and growth pact is a step in the right direction. but the mere existence of these rules does not suffice. we need to actually apply them. softening the rules would be a step backwards. the european commission recently suggested taking public investment out of the deficit calculation. in my view, this only serves to make the procedure arbitrary and intransparent. in addition to stronger rules, we need to make sure that in a system of national control and national responsibility, sovereign default is possible without bringing down the financial system. only then will we really do away with the implicit guarantee for sovereigns. to achieve this, we have to sever the excessively close links between banks and sovereigns. currently, european banks hold too many of their own governments ’ bonds. this is because banks do not have to hold any capital against their government debt, as the risk weight assigned to sovereign bonds is zero. to counteract excessive investment in sovereign bonds, we need to change the capital rules for these bonds to make sure they are adequately risk - weighted ; and we need limits for banks ’ exposures to sovereigns, as is already the case for private creditors. only then will banks be able to cope with the repercussions of sovereign default. getting to grips with the implicit guarantee for sovereigns would be a big step towards eliminating the inherent tensions in the monetary union ’ s structure. removing the implicit guarantee for banks would be another one. to make that happen, we have to ensure the resolvability of banks. defining a clear hierarchy of creditors is crucial. shareholders and creditors will have to be first in line when it bis central bankers ’ speeches comes to bearing banks ’ losses – instead of taxpayers. and to further strengthen market discipline, the establishment of a

s art collection 1 / 3 bis - central bankers'speeches its foundations were laid around 70 years ago, in the mid - 1950s. back then, the bank deutscher lander was the central bank for allied - occupied germany's western zones. the occupying powers, the united states and the united kingdom, had established it in 1948 with the mandate to maintain the stability of the new currency, the deutsche mark. this was before the formation of the federal republic of germany, the democratic state in western germany, in 1949. in 1957, the stability mandate for the deutsche mark was transferred to the newly established deutsche bundesbank. dedicated leaders from both institutions worked to ensure that the central bank, as a major public institution, contributed to the promotion of art and culture in the young democratic federal republic of germany. first, they wanted to directly support artists by purchasing their work. second, they wanted to give bundesbank staff the chance to encounter contemporary art in the workplace. placed in its historical context, this vigorous commitment to art and culture makes sense. under the national socialist dictatorship, artists who had devoted themselves to modern art movements had no longer been able to exhibit publicly. they lost their professorships at art schools. many emigrated. their works were removed from museums and banned as " degenerate ". in post - war germany, great interest in art and culture emerged just a few years after the end of the second world war, national socialism and after the shoah. this broadbased cultural awakening was accompanied by a general desire for a fresh start. the german artists sought connection with the art movements in europe and the united states. the idea was for art to serve as a bridge. it stood for freedom and participation in universal western values. moreover, it was hoped that the young generation, through dealing with new and unusual works of art, would be able to familiarise itself with openness and democratic practices. it was against this background that informalism developed in germany. the artists sought an intensive exchange with the french informal art and us abstract expressionism. in their works, they chose a new formal language – it was non - figurative. there was no foreground, no background, and no middle. instead, the central focus was on the painting process itself. karl otto gotz, for example, used broad paintbrushes to create his dynamic compositions with just a few strokes. the " new expressionist " exhibition in the zimmergalerie franck was an important milestone