However, I believe all of us who have experienced this environment have emerged with a very different lesson learnt. Indeed, we cannot overstate the extraordinary potential this setting offers to an institution such as ours which has always valued, and legitimately so, the soundness of its judgement. With that conviction, we should devote most of our efforts to forging closer insertion, collaboration and coordination-based links with our European partners with an essential aim in mind: to reinforce our weight and ability to influence decision-making. This is a challenge and it is also an opportunity, but it is above all a responsibility to support, from the vantage of the Banco de España, the project for European construction. The second objective has to do with our contribution to financial and macroeconomic stability. After an unprecedented financial crisis, the reputation of economic policymakers, of central banks in particular and, indeed, of the economics profession as a whole was enormously dented. 4/5  Testifying to this were the regulatory and institutional changes set in train to prevent similar situations from recurring. However, the real test, where we place our social prestige and credibility on the line, will involve us truly being able to identify risks and vulnerabilities in due time, being able to issue warnings about them and, within our remit, being able to act to mitigate them or to contribute decisively to other players acting when they must.
To achieve this, after raising interest rates to close to the "neutral interest rate" of 2% in December, we are now embarking on the second phase towards monetary stabilisation: ideally, it would be good to reach the right "terminal rate" by next summer, but it is still too early to say what that level will be. We need to remain pragmatic and to be guided by observed data, including on core inflation, without getting fixated on overly mechanical rate hikes. We will then be prepared to remain at this terminal rate for as long as necessary: the sprint to raise interest rates in 2022 is now becoming more of a long-distance race, and the duration will count at least as much as the level. In parallel, we shall continue to focus on maintaining financial stability, helped by the strong resilience of French banks and insurers. In Europe, 2023 needs to be the year when Basel III is transposed into EU law and the Solvency II review is completed. Regarding crypto-assets, the disruption seen in 2022 is nourishing one basic conviction: France should switch as soon as possible to the compulsory authorisation of DASPs (digital asset service providers) rather than simply requiring their registration. And this needs to happen well before MiCA enters into force, to create the necessary framework of trust. 2) Less protection and more adaptation. The government can cushion the energy shock temporarily, but it cannot make it disappear.