consolidation, as well as reforms, appear less urgent. i am thinking here of institutional reforms to make the euro area more stable. and this is precisely what i wish to talk briefly about today. 2 assessment of the italian referendum in this context, this must, of course, include an initial, provisional assessment of the implications of the italian referendum. as you know, a majority of italian voters rejected constitutional reform in yesterday ’ s referendum. 1 / 6 bis central bankers'speeches there is cause for concern that reforms in italy will stall once again. and this would be a troubling development, not just for italy. for years now, italy has been plagued by anaemic growth, very high government debt and piles of bad debt on banks ’ balance sheets. to quote the italian finance minister, a “ no ” would not the end of the world ; however, it is now all the more important for italy ’ s political class to send convincing signals that it is willing to tackle the root causes of its economic woes. 3 the institutional architecture of the monetary union and the need for reforms minister of state dr merk, you have invited us all to attend the award ceremony here at the prinz - carl palace, which houses the offices of bavaria ’ s prime minister and is regarded as one of munich ’ s most beautiful buildings. it is all the more noteworthy that this building ’ s architect, karl von fischer, was all of 21 years old and still a student when he received the commission to design this building. however, the patron, a french clergyman named pierre de salabert, found fischer ’ s blueprint too complex – and possibly too expensive – forcing the architect to scale back his design. what was built was the main section with a representative facade and a shortened wing branching off to the left. ladies and gentlemen, why am i telling you this story, which i ’ m sure you know already? well, the reason is that it somehow reminds me of the construction of european economic and monetary union. and i ’ m not saying that the architects of monetary union were novices. but it does appear that it was impossible to give the builders more comprehensive blueprints, which is why the monetary union was initially built with only one wing : the single currency. the second wing – a single fiscal and economic policy – was intentionally left out. this has left us with a single monetary policy in the euro area but largely autonomous national fiscal and economic policies. now, the architects were

joachim nagel : remarks at the " bell ringing ceremony " remarks by dr joachim nagel, president of the deutsche bundesbank, at the " bell ringing ceremony " to celebrate the european commission joining the european repo market at deutsche borse / eurex, frankfurt am main, 7 october 2024. * * * check against delivery ladies and gentlemen, it is a great pleasure to be here today to celebrate the european commission joining the european repo market at deutsche borse / eurex. this is a significant milestone, and i am happy to share this moment with all of you. the bundesbank will act as a general clearing member for the commission. having provided similar services to several other public entities for many years, the bundesbank brings experience to the table. with this robust track record, we are happy to provide our services to the commission. i can assure you that you are in good hands. eurex already supports a wide range of repo transactions and is a major player in europe's financial landscape. since 2021, the commission has been issuing bonds under the temporary nextgenerationeu programme, and this will continue until 2028. in total, bonds worth approximately €800 billion will ultimately be issued. the eu is therefore set to become an important player in the euro bond market for some time to come. the repo facility introduced today will significantly enhance liquidity in the secondary market for these bonds. ladies and gentlemen, today's event not only highlights the attractiveness of frankfurt as a financial hub, it also helps strengthen it further. this is particularly important as much investment will be needed in the areas of digitalisation and decarbonisation in the future. of course, bank loans will likely continue to play a vital role in financing these investments. but there is also substantial potential for more financing through capital markets. as many of you probably already know, i have long been an advocate of greater integration of european capital markets. i firmly believe that advancing the capital markets union is essential, particularly in the areas of securitisation, insolvency laws, and venture capital. a transparent and high - quality securitisation market would enable banks to transfer parts of their loan portfolios to the capital market. this would relieve their balance sheets and create scope for additional loans. an effective and harmonised insolvency regime would facilitate cross - border investment and the reallocation of scarce resources to innovative firms striving