An additional important step that it´s still missing is related to the need to conclude the process of financial integration that was key to resolving the sovereign debt crisis. This is, namely, the Banking Union, through the agreement on a fully mutualised European Deposit Insurance Scheme. It would contribute decisively to guaranteeing financial stability in the euro area and avoiding problems of financial fragmentation, both in the short and medium-term. In parallel, capital markets in Europe remain relatively under-developed and under-integrated. Hence the need to move resolutely 3/4  BIS central bankers' speeches  towards implementing all the measures that are necessary to create a true capital markets union. It was Jean Monnet who said that “Europe will be forged in crises, and will be the sum of the solutions adopted for those crises". Let´s do not waste the opportunity that this new crisis has offered to us. Forging requires sufficient temperature to mould, but not so much as to melt. There has been much work on how to avoid reaching melting temperature in the last few years. Now is the time to mould both the European project and the multilateral institutions. Our aim is that, when the temperature drops, we find ourselves with a new, stronger global economic architecture. I´m convinced that, among the students graduating today at Barcelona GSE, there is a good number of molders who will contribute crucially to this endeavor in the following decades. Thanks you in advance for this contribution, congratulations to all and good luck.
Let me end these remarks by underlying some of these remaining challenges on the economic front. The monetary union is one of the milestones of the European project: a single currency, the euro; and a single monetary policy, with its own institution, the European Central Bank. This is the epitome of cooperation among countries: a supranational agency that takes into account the well-being of the whole area instead of nations exercising their powers in a disorderly fashion. As a reward, the contribution of monetary policy to the economic stability of the union has been decisive, particularly during the sovereign debt crisis and, crucially, in the current health crisis. In addition to monetary policy, during this crisis, there has also been a genuine, common fiscal European response to the pandemic, notably including the creation of the Next Generation EU (NGEU) recovery fund. This fund adds key elements to ensure the burden of the economic recovery effort is shared. Some are unprecedented, such as the large-scale issue of supranational European public debt to finance reforms and investment in those Member States most affected by the pandemic. However, NGEU cannot and should not be seen as the cyclical stabilisation mechanism the euro area needs to complement our single monetary policy. A true macroeconomic stabilisation mechanism should be a multilateral institution in itself, of a permanent nature and with sufficient size, taxation power and borrowing ability.