movements. it is, however, an entirely different matter to go beyond today ’ s problem - oriented cooperation in international bodies, as is being sought in proposals to establish a more formalised exchange rate regime based, for instance, on target zones. these suggestions have remained dry runs, and i assume they will probably remain so in the future. under the present conditions of deregulated financial markets and free movement of capital, there are only three ways such systems can work to begin with - either : – there is already a strong convergence of the real economy and of anti - inflationary policy between the partners, causing parities to naturally remain in existence “ on their own ”, so to speak. this convergence has rarely existed within the triad over a relatively lengthy period of time. at the moment, the structural differences between america, japan and continental europe are becoming more evident. – or, the countries are otherwise willing to change parities quickly, as unobtrusively as possible and in a forward - looking manner. however, experience has shown that such systems tend to be “ too little, too late ”. – a third possibility is to subordinate other internal economic policy targets almost completely to the exchange rate. but this probably only makes sense if carried out by a small country with strong external trade links and if it is desired that external trade links exercise a disciplinary effect on policy. however, none of these considerations make a stronger exchange rate management in the tripolar world realistic today. ii managing a tripolar world : there is still another facet to this topic. it is also about the monetary policy of those countries which are not part of one of the three poles but which have to define their relationship to these three poles somehow. as regards the european countries, some of them are reassessing their positions towards the monetary union or are making considerable progress in the convergence process. a case in point is greece, which was recently able to carry out a realignment rather unobtrusively. at the eu summit in helsinki, important preliminary decisions on the enlargement of the eu were taken. i assume that those countries will use the euro as a beacon to guide their monetary policy over the long term. upon accession to the eu they will automatically become “ member states with a derogation ”, the maastricht treaty ’ s term for those eu countries not yet participating in monetary union. the emerging economies, too, must define their position in the currency triad. how do they intend to fix

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