Thanks mainly to Fed swaps, EU savers and investors do not have to worry about the general liquidity position of the eurozone. I almost pray that forthcoming political events in the U.S. do not alter this situation. b. The solution to this crisis involves controlled de-leveraging and the restoration of European and eurozone competitiveness in the developed world. The need for deleveraging is clear, but the restoration of competitiveness in Europe is also a must, despite the fact that the CA of the eurozone and/or the EU is roughly balanced. Otherwise, the EU will not be able to restore the real growth rates necessary to stabilize eurozone sovereigns in the context of the chief mandate of the ECB, i.e., in a non-inflationary context. I am afraid this may involve quite a few of my fellow European citizens engaging in a bit of metaphorical trench-digging. Hopefully, they will also try other types of productive activities with more value added. I am fully aware of the pain this process is causing, as my country has undergone quite a similar process recently. c.  A lot of commentators have said that Germany has benefited the most from the eurozone, or at least has benefited more than the eurozone countries that are suffering now. However, quite a significant proportion of those observers have also noted that Germany has recorded the slowest growth in wage costs and other income measures in the eurozone throughout the existence of the latter.
In the case of social bonds, for example, the European Platform on Sustainable Finance has been working on a proposal for a social taxonomy, but this area evolves very quickly and more dimensions need to be included, such as diversity, equity and inclusion. In addition, the focus of sustainable finance is widening from climate to include nature and the environment because climate change and biodiversity loss are interconnected and mutually reinforcing. 7  Central banks are starting to analyse the consequences of the loss of biodiversity for the financial system. The Network for Greening the Financial System (NGFS) has set up a task force on biodiversity loss and nature-related risks. We need to research and learn more about the transmission channels from nature loss to the economy and the financial system, as we are already doing in relation to climate change.7 Thus, we have a further challenge here, and probably next year there will be a session at this conference focusing on biodiversity. In the meantime, to conclude, we can see that the issuance of green bonds is recovering in 2023. However, other bonds in the sustainable finance family are seeing less interest from investors. The challenges are several: i) the lack of common definitions, ii) the voluntary aspect of the European green bond standard, and iii) the lack of verification of sustainabilitylinked bonds. In addition, a higher degree of transparency and a global disclosure standard would contribute to the development of sustainable bond markets and a reduction in greenwashing. 7  See NGFS (2022).