Toespraak Commissievoorzitter Barroso bij het afscheid van ECB-president Trichet (en)

Cher Jean-Claude,

Chancellor,

Presidents

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

We are here today to pay tribute to Jean-Claude Trichet i's leadership of the European Central Bank.

Let me start by restating my firm belief that the Euro is one of the major achievements of European project. Its very creation was a great expression of political will for the European project. It remains a strong and stable international reference currency. But it is more than a currency.

It defines European integration. It defines also our identity as European Union. Many have contributed to this process, but the European Central Bank and Jean-Claude Trichet have been centre-stage throughout these developments.

As the economic and sovereign debt crises have unfolded, the crucial role of the ECB i in maintaining price stability, while securing wider financial stability in the Euro area has become ever more important and visible.

Price stability is one of the cornerstones of our Union, underpinning the daily life and choices of all Europeans.

The ECB's role is fundamental in this regard. It ensures the background of financial stability against which our Member States, our companies, our citizens can balance their budgets.

This crisis has confirmed that strong and independent European institutions are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of the Euro area, in particular as regards price stability and fiscal discipline.

Without fiscal discipline, price stability will be at risk. And lack of fiscal discipline may bring systemic instability.

The rules governing national fiscal policies in the European Union, and especially in the Euro area have been streamlined and reinforced. The ECB and the Commission have worked together to achieve this in the new Stability and Growth Pact.

A correct implementation of fiscal rules requires the independent role of the Commission. Together with the ECB we will decisively contribute to the consolidation of a culture of stability in the Euro area.

The ECB has maintained a clear vision of the interlocking aspects of the crisis - that monetary policy, fiscal policy and structural reforms are at the core of our crisis response.

The ECB was indeed the first globally to take exceptional measures to finance banks in the summer of 2007. And it has not wavered in its efforts since.

Dear Jean-Claude, I remember in particular the role you played in early May 2010 when you warned of the imminent threats to the Euro area's financial stability. I am proud to say that then, the ECB and the Commission were together calling for a "quantum leap" in Euro area governance - a call that is now being answered. That famous appeal to do everything necessary to preserve financial stability, remains as valid today as it was that night in 2010, when it was decided to establish the EFSF i and EFSM.

That was a difficult moment of choices for all of us, including for the ECB - and your support for change was not only brave, but essential. The decisive intervention of the ECB in the secondary bond market was, and still is, a critical element in securing financial stability and integrity in the euro area.

I am convinced that the European Union and the euro area and its institutions shall come out of this crisis stronger than before. It is clear to us and to our partners in the world that more integration, more discipline, better implementation are the keys to securing stability and fostering growth. It is becoming clear every day that we need to complete our monetary union with a true economic union and with a much higher level of integrated governance and political commitment.

Dear Jean-Claude, today we say au revoir, but not goodbye. I am confident that your legacy will remain part of the ECB's DNA long after your departure.

I welcome your successor, Mario Draghi i, whose qualities and professional competence I know well. Both he and the ECB will retain the full confidence of the Commission and we look forward to working with him.

Jean-Claude, you are a man of intellect and a man of vision, but also a man of action, who has played a decisive role in defending the independence of the ECB and strengthened financial stability. You are not only "un grand serviteur de la cause publique", but most of all a very committed European. Let me say that we count on you to go on with this commitment to our common European project. I remember what you said about the importance of stability, also when it comes to poetry. You said in fact that like money, poetry gives us the sense of permanence and continuity. That poetry and money share "un facteur commun: le principe de stabilité, préservation et inaltérabilité."

Dear Jean-Claude, I believe that your vision and your actions, have brought the European project closer to the same degree of stability and permanence for everything we have done, and also for everything you will do for this great cause of European integration.

I say to you un grand merci.