Ladies and gentlemen,

I accepted with great pleasure the invitation to speak today at the 2005 Paris EUROPLACE International Financial Forum. After one and a half days of discussions, during which you have covered such a wide spectrum of financial markets issues including a session on the competitive challenges for European capital markets in the global environment I am very honoured to provide the closing remarks for this event.

In my speech today, I will address a topic that is also directly related to this conference's themes as it is of big importance for making Europe more competitive: European financial integration.

Generally speaking, financial integration can be said to be achieved when market participants with the same relevant characteristics have equal access to the market, face a single set of rules and are treated equally, and when the opportunities arising from such conditions in place have been substantially exploited by market forces.