joachim nagel : remarks on enrico letta's report " much more than a market " remarks by dr joachim nagel, president of the deutsche bundesbank, on enrico letta's report " much more than a market ", at the panel discussion " empowering the single market – opportunities and challenges ", frankfurt am main, 7 may 2024. * * * check against delivery 1 introduction ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much for giving me the opportunity to respond to enrico's excellent presentation. enrico, early on in your report, you describe the " most glaring paradox of eu infrastructure : the impossibility of travelling by high - speed train between european capitals ". despite this shortcoming, you managed to criss - cross the continent to hold hundreds of meetings with thousands of people : thanks a lot for that! and i was very happy that you also stopped in to talk with me along the way. the result of your journey is an impressive report on how to strengthen the single market for the benefit of all europeans. reducing barriers to entry, strengthening research and innovation, and supporting market funding for the necessary green and digital transformation should be at the top of the eu's economic policy agenda. many of the proposals and roadmaps presented in the report lay key groundwork for the next commission's work programme. 2 capital markets union when the two of us met in march, our discussion centred around the capital markets union ( cmu ) – or as you call it, the " savings and investments union ". indeed, i have been advocating for the cmu for many years. unfortunately, progress is very slow. there have been calls for capital market integration for so long ( since 2015, in fact ), and virtually no one is against the cmu. one reason why the cmu has not yet been achieved is that there is not just one measure that will give us a single european capital market. rather, a whole package of measures is needed, which would, in some cases, have a strong impact on national law. 1 / 3 bis - central bankers'speeches let me give you an example. corporate insolvency rules are a matter of national law. however, the coexistence of 27 national insolvency laws is an impediment to crossborder investment. of course, it would be good if we could at least harmonise the rules. but that would require a greater willingness to compromise and to put national

to really doubt our economies ever returning to business as usual. at that time it was believed that the new normal would come with secular stagnation, low interest rates and low inflation. romania has secured a record growth of 8. 6 % in 2017 / q3. nevertheless, we need to moderate our enthusiasm. i have noticed that although real growth is evident in the region, it is accompanied by some important risks and vulnerabilities. one of the challenges attached is related to the sustainability of this growth. the national bank of romania shares your 1 / 2 bis central bankers'speeches view. we should not forget the saying “ easy come, easy go ”. loose economic policies, unbalanced budgets and wage - price spirals could cost us much when the economic downturn check is due. this problem hit us severely in the recent past, but we have hardly learned the lesson. because i have mentioned the economic laws, i will turn now to the legal environment : the report covers extensively the rule of law, the role of institutions and the judiciary. in the report, central and eastern europe is presented as an example of effective measures and progress in this respect, which is of no small importance. romania finds itself in an upright moment when economic performance is associated with strong achievements in the reform of institutions. we should not waste this moment. in the long run, the economy ’ s, the institutions ’ and the society ’ s progress goes hand - in - hand, and, conversely, so does their regress. therefore, we have to be careful not to reverse the current trend. banks in europe seem to ride better on the economic tide, also thanks to wide - ranging reforms brought by the banking and capital markets union. credit is still below its potential and the needs of the economy. with further reduction in npls and higher interest rates, there are better prospects for banks ’ profitability. we see demons of the past in our region today and we wish to avoid any doubting of our european and transatlantic engagements. in order to go further we must prevent the demons of the past from questioning the virtues of opening our economy to foreign investment. the only way to preserve this fine moment for romania is to steer and balance the economic growth, to advance on our european path and grasp the benefits of this historical process. i will now give the floor to mr. jeffrey franks who will deliver an in - depth presentation on the first chapter of the report – “ europe hitting its stride ”,