Ladies and gentlemen,it is a pleasure for me to come to this prestigious university and to address the members of the European Affairs Society tonight. As I was told, your Society is an independent forum for the discussion of European issues within this university. Independence and a certain level of detachment from the everyday political debate, as I know from the experience of the European Central Bank, can indeed provide propitious conditions for true discourse and the free expression of ideas. This is why I appreciate the opportunity I have tonight to address the important topic of how to combine both the widening and the deepening of the European Union. In so doing, I shall approach the subject from the specific viewpoint of a central banker and share with you some ideas concerning the particular role of the euro in the further integration process of a growing European Union. At the same time, I should like to stress that it is clearly not for central bankers, but rather for politicians and European citizens to make the necessary "hard decisions" in the coming weeks, months and years.