 I know it's nice to get together again. See faces one has thought has forgotten, but we got to start. Dear Vitor, dear friends and colleagues, ladies and gentlemen, it's my pleasure to welcome you all today to this colloquium in honor of Vitor Costantia. And it's also a pleasure to welcome back so many colleagues and friends who come to celebrate with us. Your presence here and your contributions to what promises to be a highly relevant and interesting debate demonstrate the level of regard in which Vitor is held and the respect we all have for him. The topic we will discuss is the Future Central Banking. And there are at least three ways in which some of the old certainties of central banking are now being challenged. First, we are going through a period where the nature of money itself is being reexamined. And with it, the role of central banks in society. This is visible in discussions about the role of known banks in money creation or about the disruptive potential of digital currencies. Such currencies are seen by some as a way to disintermediate central banks, and by others as a way for central banks to play an even more dominant role in society. Think of the sovereign money, Volkeld, Volkeld initiative. It will be put to a vote of the Swiss people in three weeks' time. So it's not merely intellectually rewarding to discuss the future of money and monetary policy, but a matter of profound policy relevance. Second, our conceptual frame of reference and analytical bedrock macroeconomics faces some fundamental questions. There are questions about the suitability and capacity of macroeconomics to help us understand the complexities of the world. And there are doubts, especially among the public, among the, about the usefulness and legitimacy of the policy advice stemming from such analysis. A problem that Vitor has often pointed out. It is therefore right that we discuss the future of macroeconomics and that we remain open to new perspectives. And this is particularly key for us as central banks because as technocratic institutions, our legitimacy rests on the analytical framework of macroeconomics being solid. Third, our external political and economic environment is changing rapidly. And in ways that affect central banks profoundly. As Europeans, we are used to be part of an evolving structure. The very goal of the European Union to create an ever closer union among the peoples of Europe already embeds this dynamic component. But the past years of crisis have completely changed the nature of this process. On the one hand, integration has accelerated, especially within the Euro area. We have enhanced economic governance. We now have almost have a banking union and a greater, almost have a greater pan-European solidarity. On the other hand, we are witnessing increasing political divergence and fragmentation. Disputes about fundamental values and dissent about the very goal of being in this union together. At the same time is true also for, the same is true for the overall international environment. So again, it's essential that we deepen our understanding of the dynamics that are at work and what this implies for policy. These are all themes that the colloquium will take up. And thanks to the draw of Vitor, we are privileged to have so many prominent speakers to offer their insights today and tomorrow. But before we get going and to frame our forthcoming discussions, maybe worth recalling where we stood when you, Vitor, took up your position as ECB Vice President in June 2010 and what we have gone through together. Back then, the Euro area economy was recovering from the post-Lehmann shock and the deep recession of 2009. The economy was growing by 1.7%. Inflation was at 1.6 and our policy rate was at 1%. We had just begun to understand what led to the financial crisis when we were establishing the European Systemic Risk Board here at ECB. The word macroprudential started to enter a wider usage. Mines were very much focused on how to avoid the next crisis. But of course, for us in the Euro area, the crisis was only beginning. And this led to a period of unprecedented challenges for monetary policy and unprecedented responses from the ECB. First, we had to address the breakdown in monetary policy transmission caused by fears about the breakup of the Euro area. Thereafter, we had to tackle the aftermath of this conflagration, high unemployment, stagnant growth and too low inflation. And we also had to implement one of the main institutional response to the crisis, the creation of European banking supervision. So this was among the most difficult and challenging years we have faced in central banking, at least in our lifetimes. We were privileged to have Vitor at the helm to help navigate us through them. You were able to shoulder this enormous responsibility because of your learning, your experience and your dedication, your learning. Well, those who know you can't fail to be impressed by your intellectual depth, analytical rigor. I mean, yeah, love for details. Not only did you bring to the ECB a strong background in economics, both as a student and as a professor, but your ability to stay abreast of the latest research and connect it with policy has been remarkable. Often, you've been among the first to explore ideas that have subsequently became mainstream. I can think, for example, of how you've shown a light on the distributional aspects. Now everybody talks about distribution, but Vitor did it at a very early stage. So you've shown a light on the distributional aspects of our policy or of how you made the case for the banking union well before its adoption. Equally vital has been your experience as both a statesman and a central banker. Entering politics in the turbulent years following the Portuguese revolution in the early 70s, 1970s, you are no stranger to assuming responsibility in the times of greatest need. Not least as minister of finance in 1978, the youngest minister of finance in Portuguese history. In your experience over the past 18 years within the Euro system, first as your capacity as governor of the central bank of Portugal and since 2010 as vice president has been invaluable to us in charting a course through the rocky terrain we have faced. So you contributed to the key decisions of the governing council in these challenging times. Finally, your dedication. Everyone who's worked with you can attest to the passion and commitment you've showed as vice president. Your devotion to our mission and to the European project seeps through in everything you do. It's not surprised that when European leaders entrusted the ECB with building up European banking supervision was you who led the preparatory work and made it the success that it is today. And watching you Vitor interact with members of the European Parliament or colleagues or students reveals the same enthusiasm. How passionate you are about your arguments and how important it is for you that your listeners understand what we do and why. To underscore just how important this is let me quote Alan Blinder who once noted that relative to their economic and therefore social importance central banks must be among the least well understood institutions in the entire world. For example, I've been told that millions of Americans still think that the Federal Reserve System is a system of government owned forests. And while life preserves where presumably bulls and bears and hawks and doves frolic together in blissful harmony. I can assure you that that's not the case. Our governing council may include a similar range of species, but I trust its purpose is slightly better understood. If so, that is no small part to the efforts of Vitor and others to connect our mission to the public. Obviously we have regard and respect for your remarkable contributions to public life, Vitor. And more appropriately for having dedicated your whole life to serve in the public interest. But there is in my view a deeper reason for the regard and respect and affection we have for you, Vitor. And that is your intellectual honesty, which shows in two ways, your immediate instinctive disgust for dogmatism. That stubbornness in one's view that disregards any evidence that may contradict one's convictions. That intellectual laziness that leads some people to never change their mind. Well, you know the sentence, when the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir? Could well apply to Vitor, but don't get me wrong. He's far from being a cultural relativist without value judgments. His interpretation of reality may change, but the angle from which he looks at it doesn't. It is always the people and their welfare that he is looking at reality from. Humanity rather than intellectual dryness is Vitor's dominant feature. And that's why beyond regard and respect, what we all have for you is affection. Ladies and gentlemen, let me conclude. At this point, it might be tempting to say that ECB in Europe would be a poorer world without you, but it wouldn't be true. You know it, and everybody who knows you knows it as well. With your curiosity and your courage, you will far from disappear as you will continue to challenge us, our policies, our convictions, until you see the world in Europe turn your way. Arrivederci, Vitor, and thank you very much.