*  *  Introduction  Ladies and gentlemen, I am very pleased to welcome you to this conference and I am grateful that I can do so also in the name of the Banque de France. Last week we celebrated the 10th anniversary of the ECB and the Eurosystem.
Building on the expertise and reputation of the national central banks of the euro area, the ECB has developed well and we are very proud that the Eurosystem as a team has delivered what we were supposed to: we have achieved our main objective of price stability in the euro area and – more closely linked to this conference – the smooth operation of payment systems.