the world has changed. today the eu counts 27 members and 19 countries have adopted the euro. the addition of croatia and bulgaria will soon bring the latter number up to 21. along with this impressive progress, there was of course a significant loss : the u. k. opted out of the single currency from the start and has more recently exited the eu altogether. we continentals may regret those decisions but we respect them. we ’ ll miss great british architects of our projects, like former chancellor sir kenneth clarke, whom i can personally testify to how much he contributed. what we do sometimes regret is when britain ’ s vibrant debate on european issues verges on schadenfreude in relation to our own projects and ambitions. take, for instance, sir william cash, a long - standing conservative member of parliament, who at a debate on euro membership in 1997, insisted that “ the euro would be extremely weak ” and that “ we are heading for disaster. ” fourteen years later, in 2011, bill cash wrote that “ the euro with its one size fits all approach and the uniformity demanded by the eu simply cannot work... the survival of the euro itself is in question due to its structural shortcomings and the inherent workings of monetary union. ” well, here we are, more than a decade later, and the euro is still alive and kicking. not only has the euro survived, but it is recognised and used globally, including outside its own borders as both a store of value and a means of trade. the single currency has also proved remarkably stable, with inflation averaging 1. 7 % since its inception in 1999, compared with 4. 9 % during the two decades before. the euro has therefore helped to protect the purchasing power of european citizens, which has increased by 15 % since 1999. page 3 sur 9 moreover, the euro is not simply an elite project as is frequently charged. it is also a popular success ; it inspires trust which is the core value of a currency. the latest standard eurobarometer poll conducted in spring 2021 reported that 79 % of the population in the 19 countries using the euro believe that having the currency is good for the eu. that ’ s up from 66 percent a decade ago. even wellknown nationalist politicians, including in my own country, have dropped or backed - off their anti - euro stances because they have concluded that the policy is an electoral dead - end. obviously as governor of the banque de france and

, a quick implementation of this european recovery fund is an economic must. this innovation, while still a one - off, could also imply lessons for the economic and monetary union, which from the start has lacked a permanent fiscal capacity at supranational level for macroeconomic stabilisation in deep crises. either we succeed in designing – at end – credible and coordinated countercyclical rules for national fiscal policies, or we should think about some 4 / 5 bis central bankers'speeches central fiscal capacity, reversible in its use, controllable in its size, but effective through the cycle. this should be one area of discussion in the “ european momentum ” which the crisis has initiated. thank you for your attention. 1 article 3. 3 of the treaty on the european union. 2 article 127. 5 of the treaty on the functioning of the european union. 3 the monetary policy strategy review : some preliminary considerations, speech by christine lagarde, president of the ecb, at the “ ecb and its watchers xxi ” conference, 30 september 2020 4 www. banque - france. fr / sites / default / files / medias / documents / 2020. 05. 25 _ sep _ en _ cl. pdf see blanchard & summers ( 2020 ), automatic stabilizers in a low - rate environment, aea papers and proceedings, vol 110, may. 5 / 5 bis central bankers'speeches