*  *  Introduction  The organisers of this prestigious international monetary symposium have invited me to be the first speaker this afternoon. This puts me in the privileged position to open the discussion and, in this way, to set the scene and the tone.
I am delighted to be here, among such highly esteemed speakers, at this event to mark five years of the euro. Five successful years. Of course, “success has many fathers”, as the saying goes. But as the central bank issuing the euro, the European Central Bank has a particularly close “parental” relationship and responsibility.