Speech by Christine Lagarde, President of the ECB, at the Mediterranean Meetings

Marseille, 21 September 2023

I am honoured to be with you at the Palais du Pharo, overlooking the historic port of Marseille, the cradle of today’s eponymous city.

For thousands of years, this port has served as the city’s spiritual and economic heart, acting as its gateway to the world. Even today, this city still embodies the essence of the Mediterranean: a site with a shared history, a bridge connecting the diverse peoples of its shores and a place compelled by its very nature to open itself up to the world.

It is in this spirit that you have gathered here for the Mediterranean Meetings – to consider the region’s calling and destiny and to offer unity and peace in a landscape marked by global division, inequality and instability.

In that same spirit, I would like to divide my speech today into three distinct parts.

First, I will recall the rich history of the Mediterranean region and the deep…