Thus, this episode has shown that structural policies that foster the integration and interconnection of European markets – in particular energy markets – and strengthen the 12  single market will not only generate greater resilience to shocks, but also drive competitiveness. Joint funding arrangements should be established to safeguard this common effort and avoid any excessive or highly unequal impact on national public finances. Common funding arrangements would enable financing for large-scale programmes based on shared quality standards and provide for a uniform approach for assessing programme execution. Headway must also be made in the expansion of the public and private risk-sharing arrangements in the EU. The euro area needs a permanent macroeconomic stabilisation mechanism – with revenue-raising and borrowing capacity – to complement the single monetary policy. It is also imperative that the banking union be completed with the establishment of a European deposit guarantee scheme. Lastly, we must press forward with constructing a capital markets union. 4. Concluding remarks In short, with war on European soil and a sharp rise in geopolitical tensions, the challenges we face are very complex. These developments, together with the additional series of shocks on an unprecedented scale from the pandemic, have pushed inflation to persistently very high levels both in Spain and in the euro area as a whole. Given this situation, monetary policy needs to be steered to ensuring that the direct effects of these shocks are not included in the formation processes for other prices and wages.
Following on from these ideas, the ECB has also announced a series of experiments across the euro areavii which could begin in 2024. As part of this process, we are prepared to support the new European pilot programme directly by making CBDC available as a settlement asset.   Providing a tokenised settlement asset could also be rounded out by a  European infrastructure – in the euro area - that would bring together all tokenised assets (CBDC, deposits, financial assets), to guarantee interoperability between the different assets as well as the singleness of the currency. This European platform would prepare for the approach being advocated by the BIS, i.e. the creation of a unified ledger at international level to facilitate cross-border payments. These ideas are also developed in a recent IMF publicationviii. *** I would like to conclude with the words of André Gide, "there are many things that seem impossible only so long as one does not attempt them". Let's work together to unlock the full range of possibilities. Let's pave the way for sustainable innovation for the benefit of our fellow European citizens. I really believe that what we have done for Paris post-Brexit, we can also do for payment systems. Thank you for your attention. Page 7 of 6 i  Bloomberg, Banks betting on Paris say there is life after London, 18 April 2023 Banque de France, Assessment of Risks to the French Financial Systems, June 2023. iii The Eurosystem will have no knowledge of the details of any transaction.