There is, however, still progress to be made; our monetary and economic union needs to be completed. Our European economic institutions are like a trimaran. Our vessel already has a robust central hull in the form of the ECB and the Eurosystem, with its credible single monetary policy. This boat must be completed with two floaters. On one side, we need a public float with a standing common fiscal capacity to better cope with macroeconomic shocks. This need not mean increasing permanently our yearly budget; rather we should construct a fiscal facility that could be activated in moments of crisis or recession. In this respect, the EUR 750 billion Next Generation EU programme – agreed in 2020 and now actively implemented – has been a major step forward. On the other side, we need a private float to foster a better capital allocation, which is just as important. The  Page 5 sur 9 Banking Union and Capital Markets Union, though somewhat “boring” and technical, should be absolute political priorities to enhance the free circulation of capital across the EU and build what I suggest to rebrand a “Financing Union for Investment and Innovation”. In the U.S., private capital flows are a major financial shock absorber between states. We can achieve the same in Europe, and make better use of the world’s largest pool of savings, including by fostering venture capital which is still underdeveloped.
It accounted for one third of international issuance of green and sustainable bonds in Asia. In 2022, we continued to see strong momentum, in particular in the area of green and sustainable loans. The vibrant green bond market is in part a result of the many breakthroughs made by the Government Green Bond programme. Since 2019, the HKMA has assisted the Government in issuing nearly $ billion worth of green bonds targeting both institutional and retail investors. We made use of each issuance to innovate and expand the suite of green bond products in terms of currencies, tenors and distribution channels, thus laying the foundation for other public and private sector issuers in the region. These issuances kept pushing the boundaries. Just over the last few years, we made the world's largest retail green bond issuance, Asia's largest ESG bond issuance, and issued the world's first tokenised government green bond. We will continue to seek new breakthroughs. In the coming five years, planned annual issuance of Government Green Bonds will increase from $ billion to $ billion. The mandate of this programme will be expanded to cover sustainable bonds as well. We will also consider how best to incorporate green and sustainability elements into a new infrastructure bond programme we are developing for the Government.