Even more remarkable is that, in choosing the 21st of June, the Banque de France has been extremely selfless, as I would understand if many of our French colleagues had preferred to watch France play Peru in the football World Cup rather than attend this afternoon’s panel. But the 21st of June is also a special day for Germans and the Bundesbank.
Exactly 70 years ago, the Deutsche Mark was introduced in what was known as the Trizone – the three zones that were occupied after World War II by France, the United Kingdom and the US, and that were to become West Germany one year later. We have indeed come a long way since those days, when much of Europe was still ravaged by war.