Frankfurt am Main, 2 June 2026

It is a great pleasure to participate in today’s conference and to contribute a European perspective to the discussion on currency options.

Before I start, allow me to note that today is my second day in my new job. So I am transitioning into a new regime, and I can’t help noticing a certain thematic consistency with the topic of today’s conference. Transitioning into any new regime requires some adaptation and can bring some challenges.

Hence, when the Maastricht Treaty laid the foundations for the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) back in the early 1990s, the project was seen as ambitious, unprecedented in many respects, and, by some observers, uncertain. There was no modern example of sovereign states pooling monetary sovereignty on such a scale. And there was considerable scepticism. Some economists questioned whether a diverse group…