the interests of all member states and deeply connected to their future prosperity. second, for europe to realise fully its future potential, it needs the right rules and the right institutions. europe requires a solid form of governance to ensure that the actions of individual countries are oriented towards the common good. our current arrangements have not yet fully met this standard. they are now being improved. it is a continuous process which will call for treaty changes if necessary. as this process will take time, we need to start planning today for the europe of tomorrow and the europe of the day after tomorrow. bis central bankers ’ speeches third, the underpinning of a more integrated europe is the emergence of a true european public debate. as one would say in german, die schaffung einer europaischen offentlichkeit. europeans today are highly interconnected via economic and social linkages. yet our fragmented national public discourse does not necessarily permit citizens to understand fully these connections. a true european public debate would help us deepen our interest in each other, bridge our linguistic differences and care more about what is happening across our borders. these are the three main themes on which i will focus tonight. but before i talk about the europe of the future, i would like to talk about the europe of today. to reflect on the relationship between member countries and europe. and to touch on the challenges we collectively face in tackling the crisis. 1. europe and germany building deeper union between france and germany in the service of europe has been an important theme of my own working life. in this time, i have been profoundly influenced by the german commitment to a stability culture. in the 1980s, i was seen in my own country as the strongest advocate of the “ franc fort ” policy. this policy was designed to be part of the modernisation of the french economy through a “ competitive disinflation ” policy. in the 1990s, i worked side - by - side with hans tietmeyer and horst kohler to contribute to the foundations of the euro in the maastricht treaty. this work was to ensure that, among other things, the european central bank ( ecb ) would be based on the principles of independence and the pursuit of price stability. then in 2003, i had the honour of moving to frankfurt to become president of this institution. it was a great personal satisfaction to join an institution that embodied my deep - seated beliefs in central bank independence, price stability and economic discipline. over this

jean - claude trichet : tomorrow and the day after tomorrow – a vision for europe speech by mr jean - claude trichet, president of the european central bank, at the humboldt university, berlin, 24 october 2011. * * * ladies and gentlemen, it is a great pleasure to be invited to speak here at the humboldt university this evening. one can only be honoured to be in the university of hegel, heinrich heine and the nobel prizewinning physicists albert einstein and max planck – not to mention 27 other laureates. but it is with the ideas of the university ’ s founder – wilhelm von humboldt – that i would like to begin my remarks. as a frenchman who has lived in germany for the past eight years, i note with interest that the mother of the university ’ s founder – marie - elisabeth colomb – came from a french huguenot family who also made that eastwards move. her family had emigrated to berlin following the revocation of the edict of nantes, a reminder that european integration is a process that has been with us for centuries. wilhelm von humboldt himself was deeply engaged with the question of how to create the conditions for individuals to flourish within a society. his answer involved removing the conditions for mutual harm. in some ways, this speaks to the challenges of european integration. the individual member states of the european union ( eu ) also seek to flourish. their actions are interdependent and can both benefit and damage each other. removing the potential for mutual harm is essential for collective prosperity. this dialectic between the individual and the community is at the core of the european project. it is the dialectic between the individual nation states and the community of nations. and it presents some of europe ’ s most fundamental challenges. i would like to reflect today on how to address these challenges – to look forward and offer a perspective of where europe could go. in particular, i would like to develop three propositions. first, while the reasons for european unity have often been presented as deriving from past conflicts and past divisions, forward - looking motivations are in my view decisive. the unique construction of europe – with strong local identities and large, integrated markets – is a source of great strength in the new, globalised world we face. it allows europeans to plant deep roots and build strong communities. at the same time, we can fully benefit from economies of scale and the free flow of trade and investment. for this reason, european integration is profoundly in