The last few months have shown us an important advantage of the euro: in stormy seas it’s better to be on a large ship than in a small boat. In history – also in the economic history – it’s always a speculation to ask “What if…?” I want to do it nevertheless, because there are very well-founded hypotheses. One such hypothesis is: in addition to the financial market turmoil, the banking sector problems and an economic downturn, there would most likely be severe currency upheavals in Europe without the euro. We would likely face strong, erratic fluctuations between Europe’s national currencies. I call to mind in this context the crisis in the European Monetary System in 1992 and 1993. It was triggered, among other things, by a difficult European and international environment. We saw sharp tensions between individual national currencies. This led to abrupt shifts in competitiveness between individual countries. The European Union’s internal market and in particular the free movement of capital were subject to tension. Without the euro we would be facing similar difficulties today. The central banks would be in demand as crisis managers on an additional front. The euro does offer protection from distortions in the currency field which would worsen the current situation already marked by the financial markets’ turbulences and the global economic downturn. The commitment to the single currency of its founding fathers was visionary and trailblazing.
Jean-Claude Trichet: Ten years of the euro – successes and challenges Speech by Mr Jean-Claude Trichet, President of the European Central Bank, Osnabrück, 12 February 2009. *  *  *  Introduction Dear President Pöttering, Dear Dr. Hentschel, Ladies and gentlemen, I thank you for inviting me to Osnabrück. Today I’m going to speak to you in German. That is for me both a pleasure and a challenge. I’m pleased to have come here, for the Osnabrück region is the home of Hans-Gert Pöttering. I have got to know, and have come to hold in high esteem, Hans-Gert Pöttering as President of the European Parliament. As the President of the European Central Bank, I am a regular guest at the Parliament. For us at the ECB, relations with the directly elected representatives of the people of Europe are very important. Osnabrück is also a suitable place for a speech on European integration. Its epithet is the “city of peace”. It was here and in Münster that the Peace of Westphalia was negotiated. It was the basis for peace in Europe in 1648 after the Thirty Years’ War. Today it is European integration that forms the basis for prosperity and peace in Europe during the last 60 years. Main part The euro is the most visible symbol of European unification. Economic and Monetary Union is the field in which integration has progressed the most. The euro is the currency now shared by 329 million people in 16 countries.