* * * Ladies and gentlemen, It is with pleasure that I welcome you to this conference on the principle of proportionality and its relevance for banking regulation, supervision and resolution. Of course, proportionality is a well-established general principle of European law. As a standard of public law, it has a long pedigree in both national and European law.
And in more philosophical debates, it has always served as a point of reference for theories of justice. Indeed, the original formulations relating to proportional justice can be found in the writings of Plato and Aristotle. This arguably makes Athens an apt location for carrying on the debate in a contemporary context. But why should proportionality be discussed in specific relation to banking regulation?