Speech by Christine Lagarde, President of the ECB, on the official dinner of the Deutsche Bundesbank in Berlin, Germany
Berlin, 9 September 2026
It’s a pleasure to be right here on the Bode Museum in Berlin.
Greater than two centuries in the past, the poet Johann Paul Friedrich Richter described Berlin as “extra part of the world than a metropolis”.[1] Historical past would show him proper.
This metropolis got here to embody the upheavals that formed Germany, Europe and the world, from the destruction of struggle to its decades-long division on the centre of the Chilly Battle.
At key factors throughout that point, West Germans and Europeans have been confronted with the necessity to make crucial decisions. One set of relationships needed to be prioritised over one other.
In 1949, West Germans made such a alternative of their first post-war election. Konrad Adenauer emerged as Chancellor with a transparent dedication to anchor the Federal Republic firmly within the West.
Adenauer’s election had ripple results throughout Europe. His politics of Westbindung helped set the route for European integration in its childhood, laying foundations that will form the many years that adopted.
When the Wall fell in Berlin, East Germans too have been lastly in a position to make their alternative. They selected freedom and a shared future with their compatriots within the West.
After which, for a time, the alternatives imposed by historical past appeared to fall away. To borrow Francis Fukuyama’s phrase, historical past itself appeared to have come to an finish.
Europeans now not had to decide on so starkly between their relationships. As a result of these relationships have been, at coronary heart, complementary.
European integration might deepen concurrently international locations expanded their financial relationships internationally. International locations might take vitality from Russia, demand from China and safety from america.
In the present day, nonetheless, the complete weight of historical past has returned.
Europe is coming into a harsher, much less forgiving world, one more and more formed by main powers keen to make use of their financial and geopolitical weight to their very own benefit.
So, EU Member States – and Europe as an entire – want to select: about who we’re as Europeans, and who we select to depend on. There are three pathways earlier than us.
The primary is to just accept that Europe’s second on the world stage has handed, and that its decline is now “inevitable”.
However to not fear, the argument goes. We will nonetheless decline gracefully by importing applied sciences from others to energy the expansion wanted to fund our social mannequin. Europe will change into a museum, sure. However a good museum, similar to this one.
That pathway is a mirage. In actuality, Europe could be left with weakened development and a social mannequin we might now not pay for.
We might be squeezed by these whose applied sciences we turned depending on. If the historical past of this metropolis has taught us something, it’s that we must always not surrender our freedom flippantly.
The second pathway is for every nation to pursue its personal perceived nationwide curiosity, whether or not when it comes to commerce, industrial coverage or vitality.
We hear these calls getting louder. However they’re additionally a mirage. If we glance round, all of the “center powers” are grappling with the query of how they’ll band collectively to strengthen their hand and resist stress from bigger gamers.
But Europe has a bonus right here: by the European Union, we have now already constructed the buildings that enable us to behave collectively – and to take action comparatively rapidly.
Why ought to Europe surrender its best asset by letting itself splinter into 27 nationwide agendas?
As Adenauer himself as soon as mentioned, “The political and financial forces of every European nation, if dispersed, rely for little in world affairs; mixed, they’ll play a significant function.”[2]
This brings me to the third pathway, which is to decide on one another, and proceed the work of constructing Europe.
We all know this can be a arduous alternative. We all know that it entails painstaking, gradual negotiations and tough compromises. However we are actually “alone collectively”. We will solely depend on ourselves.
If our strengths in a single area, such because the Single Market, are undermined by weaknesses in others, corresponding to defence or fragmented, expensive vitality markets, we will likely be simple to divide.
But when we act collectively in areas the place it is smart, we are able to grasp our personal scale and change into much less weak to exterior stress. Then, we could have extra sovereignty and quicker development.
The trail we’re on is the precise one.
The financial savings and investments union might help unlock Europe’s considerable financial savings and channel them in the direction of funding within the areas the place we have to change into stronger.
In parallel, the digital euro will assist protect our financial sovereignty in a world the place we are able to now not afford to rely so closely on others.
And it’s maybe becoming to finish on cash, as a result of the Bode Museum is residence to the Münzkabinett, a world-class assortment tracing the evolution of cash over centuries.
Amongst its holdings is a medal of Alexander von Humboldt, commissioned by the listeners to his well-known Kosmos lectures right here in Berlin.[3]
He as soon as wrote: “Schwieriges erscheint mir nie unmöglich.”[4] That’s the proper thought for Europe right now. The selection to construct Europe is a tough one. However it’s removed from unattainable. Allow us to embrace the prospect to take action.
Thanks.
