Ladies and Gentlemen,
This Eurofi is especially meaningful to me, as it will be my last as Governor of the Banque de France; after 18 meetings in which I have had the privilege to participate, thanks to David Wright and Didier Cahen. I will therefore take this opportunity to express my gratitude to Eurofi and perhaps express myself even more freely today. Like all of you, I deeply regret not being able to meet in person in Cyprus. From Cyprus, birthplace of Zeno of Citium, the founder of Stoicism, comes a timely lesson: we need lucidity about what we cannot change, and determination regarding what we must change. The conflict in the Middle East, which I will not address directly this morning, is one reason more to act stronger and faster.
Let me be straightforward: we Europeans don't have much time left to wake up. The question is not the "What?": we Europeans already know what needs to be done (I). The real question is "How?", and even more so "How fast": why are we so slow in delivering? Can we reconcile Europe with speed? (II).
