Central banking independence

A strong and independent central bank will always take the interest of its citizens, uh, serious in terms of protecting the value of the currency, of protecting the value of deposits, the value of savings, the value of pensions.

And it implies that citizens know that there will never be any temptation to use very short-term political gains to create longer-term damage to the currency, to the savings, and, uh, and the financial claims of the citizens.

Central bank independence is not there because central bankers like me like to be independent, but central bank independence is there because it significantly lowers the cost of disinflation.
And when I talk about costs, I talk about lost economic activity.

I talk about higher unemployment. A strong, independent central bank, uh, is accountable, uh, to the public at large and should therefore also be transparent.

And there was one moment in the mission in which one authority told me, "Well, this is my decision, and I don't have to explain that all the time." But that really gets me going because I really believe powers should always be checked, and however much power you hold, you have to be accountable, you have to be transparent, and you always have to explain why you took the decisions that you took.

In fresh democracies, it takes time before policymakers start to appreciate the importance of independent institutions, so to see that development, yeah, taking place in a country like Montenegro, growing slowly but gradually to the, uh, recognition of the importance of central bank independence, that is, uh, very, very satisfactory.

Stability can only be there if it is everywhere, so if there is part of Europe where we would have instability, then it would also be very difficult for the remainder of Europe to actually have stability.

That's why we need to strive to inclusion of all European countries of the European family, and we have to make sure that we strive for the same degree of price and financial stability.