the good work accomplished so far. i would also like to thank the t2s advisory group. in the next phase of the project, this group will retain its important function of ensuring that t2s delivers in line with market needs. the group has provided invaluable advice to the programme board and to the governing council over the past few years. the level of transparency on the t2s project through the advisory group has been – i believe – unprecedented. this has certainly been one of the key drivers of the project ’ s acceptance amongst csds, market participants and political authorities. finally, i wish to thank the high level group t2s as well as the t2s teams both at the ecb and the 4cb. their work is not always visible, but it is invaluable. indeed it is thanks to their work “ backstage ” that the construction of the t2s platform is well on track. the system is now over halfway to delivery point and the development and testing of the application are proceeding on a firm footing. on this basis, and with the signature of the t2s contracts, we now have the solid foundations to continue building t2s and to transform post - trading in europe, making it both more efficient and safer. we have taken a major step today towards making t2s happen. in years to come, we will see the eurosystem, participating csds, and market participants more widely working together to make this project a success. thank you very much. bis central bankers ’ speeches

union. these are the decisions made by the british population, we have nothing to say in that regard. but i think that it ’ s going to be quite negative in terms of economic performance for the uk. the rest of the members of the union will have to continue cooperating and continue integrating our economies. i think that in that aspect further integration is the correct answer. i repeat again, it ’ s quite unfortunate that the uk, such a big economy, leaves the union, but this decision is taken by the british people. we regret that decision. i would like to express that we have to continue cooperating with the uk and that i hope that we will have a divorce that will be orderly and that will let us continue operating with the uk. but now the decision has to be taken by the british parliament, so full respect for the decisions taken by the british population and by the british parliament. but i think that we will have to continue our integration process in the euro area. given the current political climate in europe, do you feel that moving towards closer integration is the right step because we see a lot of backlash at this moment both in nationalistic, populist and so on? undoubtedly we have seen more populism all over europe in recent years, but i think that the correct response is to take further steps in terms of integration. there is not an easy fix to the problems of europe. but i think that the euro indicates that there is a way forward and that we can overcome difficulties together and that the very nationalistic and domestic approaches are not enough in order to do that, but that it ’ s much better to do it together. and in that regard the euro is the main element of coherence and the main element of political integration and financial integration that we have in the eu. if we take one case in particular – that of italy – we see that there is this new government that is really pointing the finger against these technocratic institutions, including the ecb, and saying this is not the future, we cannot go on like this. they're the third largest euro zone member, so third most important. so what can you answer to that kind of political sentiment that indeed is rising? i do not want to comment on any particular country, but even if you look at italy, if you look at the polls, there is a very important majority of the italian people who support the euro. we have seen that the italian government – and i