In this sense, I believe the emotional relationship of citizens to the euro has become stronger. Question: What, in your view, is the greatest achievement of the first ten years of the euro? Answer: For me, the greatest success is the fact that, after having promised the citizens that the euro would be equal, in terms of stability and the maintenance of value, to the previously most solid currencies, including the Deutsche Mark, we have fulfilled this promise effectively. Question: And what is the greatest challenge for the next ten years? Answer: There are a number of challenges that face us. The first is to maintain the level of credibility and confidence that the euro has gained during the first ten years. And in addition to all the other challenges that an important central bank in the industrialised world has to deal with, I would stress two challenges that are entirely specific to the ECB. First, the fact that we are ourselves actively contributing to achieving the single market with a single currency and, second, that we must prepare in the best possible fashion for a successful enlargement of the euro area. Question: In addition to price stability, the stability of the financial markets has become the focus of attention in the context of the current crisis. Would it be sensible for the ECB to have an explicit mandate to safeguard the stability of the financial markets? Answer: Our primary mandate, to ensure price stability, is a very important prerequisite for financial stability.
To conclude, I would like to thank CEMLA, the co-organizing central banks for putting together this meeting and the team at the Central Bank of Chile for their work and for arranging the logistics of this event. Currently, when we are living under very uncertain circumstances, it is especially relevant to be discussing risk issues. This is so because high uncertainty affects the evaluation process when making decisions, when assigning probabilities to certain events and, finally, how our institutions are governed and managed. There is no doubt in my mind that this meeting will enrich our knowledge on the subject. We will also benefit from the richness of the exchange of information between institutions, which I hope will show us the road to the future of risk management. I wish you very fruitful sessions today and tomorrow, which will encourage learning, generate more conversations over time and development collaborative work that will provide continuity to the topics that will be covered in these two days. Thank you very much. 3/3  BIS - Central bankers' speeches