I don’t want to get too sentimental, but it is clear that our centuries-long common and shared history is no mere accident and that without exactly this similarity and closeness maybe our shared history could never have been so long in the first place. Again, this does not mean that we do not have our differences. Yes, we are still not equally wealthy, for example. Our elites have different opinions on many issues. Logically, we have different historical national wounds and pains. But again, this changes nothing in our mental – and not just geographical – closeness. Ladies and gentlemen, we are in Vienna, and my favourite Czech philosopher Vilém Flusser once said that Vienna and Prague are just two halves of one, single city. I very much agree. Perhaps this is ultimately why Czechs feel good in Austria: they feel very much at home. Therefore allow me right here my last point: if you are looking for anecdotal evidence of the closeness I am talking about, here is one anecdote I like to give here in Austria. Because we have friends here at the central bank, it is good to realise that the governor of the Austrian central bank is named Nowotny, his vice-governor and my dear friend is named Duchatczek, and the head of the local financial markets authority is called Pribyl. All these are typical Czech names.
I do not want to stray more than is necessary from the key idea today, namely the 50 years that we are celebrating and which, above all other considerations, represent a history of success. I must, therefore, express my heartfelt congratulations to you. I trust that our frank and sincere communications may continue, all the more so since I have become Deputy Governor. This clearly does not mean that we will always agree about everything, but rather quite the opposite. As I always say, productive supervisory dialogue is characterised by mutual understanding, where we agree but especially where we disagree. I hope that the next 50 years are at least as successful as the 50 years we are celebrating today. I would like to think they may be slightly less intensive than the last 10 years. Thank you very much. 2