Jean-Claude Trichet: ECB and ESCB – ten-year anniversary Address by Mr Jean-Claude Trichet, President of the European Central Bank, at the ceremony to mark the 10th anniversary of the European Central Bank and the European System of Central Banks, Frankfurt am Main, 2 June 2008. *  *  *  Mr President of the Republic, Sehr geehrte Frau Bundeskanzlerin, Mr President of the European Parliament, Mr President of the European Union, Mr President of the European Commission, Mr President of the Eurogroup, Ministers, Excellencies, fellow Governors, Ladies and gentlemen, Ten years ago, on 1 June 1998, the European Central Bank was founded, together with the European System of Central Banks, the ESCB. The primary mandate of the ECB and the ESCB was, and is, to preserve price stability and to safeguard the credibility of Europe's single currency, the euro, which was created seven months later. It was the will of the democracies of Europe that led to the creation of the ECB. Its mandate and its independence in fulfilling its mandate were given by the people of Europe on a multinational and multi-partisan basis. We are faithful to our mandate because we are faithful to the democratic will of the Member States. Jean Monnet writes in his Mémoires: “Rien n’est possible sans les hommes. Rien n’est durable sans les institutions”. “Nothing is possible without men.
The resolute pursuit of structural reforms in line with the Lisbon process, which are decisive in order to raise the long-term growth potential of Europe. And the lucid monitoring of the national competitive indicators, including unit labour costs. 2  BIS Review 69/2008  Mr President of the Parliament, Mr President of the Union, Mr President of the Commission, Mr President of the Eurogroup, Europe can count on the ECB and on the Eurosystem to implement in this century the historic task which was assigned to us at the end of the last century. We will be faithful to the primary mandate given to us by the Treaty. We know that our fellow citizens are asking us to deliver price stability. We know also that price stability is a prerequisite for financial stability, a very important objective at the current juncture. All the members of the Governing Council make their decisions taking into account the interests of the whole of the euro area, of 15 countries. We do not consider any particular country, but all 15 of them. Sehr geehrte Frau Bundeskanzlerin, This year in Aachen, upon receiving the Charlemagne Prize, you quoted Konrad Adenauer: “Gerade in Aachen wird man die Mahnung verstehen, dass Europa uns heute Schicksalsgemeinschaft ist. Dieses Schicksal zu gestalten ist uns übergeben”. “In Aachen, above all, people will understand the call: that Europe, for us today, is a community with a common destiny.