Ladies and gentlemen,

It's a great pleasure for me to address such a distinguished audience.

From the outset, Central Banks have been major actors in fighting the financial crisis. Overall, their actions have been broadly applauded. In the period to come, however, steering the economy in an environment of high uncertainty will prove particularly challenging. It is therefore timely to reflect upon the past, present and future course of Central Banks' actions. Today, I would like to address three questions: Is monetary policy responsible for the crisis ? How to assess the policy response from the Central Banks up to now? And, finally, to which extent does the crisis change our vision of their role in the future?