Welcome Speech by Yannis Stournaras, Governor of the Bank of the Greece, at the Ethics and Compliance Committee meeting of the European Central Bank
12/11/2026 - Speeches
I am very pleased to welcome the Ethics and Compliance Committee to the Bank of Grece for its annual away meeting. At the Bank of Greece, we honour the ancient tradition of hospitality by trying to make such meetings, and in general our colleagues’ stay in Greece, as fruitful and pleasant as possible.
We are not very far from the ancient agora of Athens, where Socrates used to meet his fellow Athenians and discuss ethics. In his Apology, he compared the city of Athens to a noble thoroughbred but sluggish horse, and himself to a gadfly constantly goading the Athenians to reconsider their ethics, re-examine their assumptions about virtue, delve deeply into their souls and correct their failings. This is precisely the function of the Ethics and Compliance Committee: to keep a vigilant eye on our practices and make sure that our ethical standards are lofty, up to date and fit for meeting contemporary challenges.
I personally consider that matters of ethics and deontology are of the outmost importance not only for the Eurosystem, but also for the European Union in general. In such troubled times, I think that there is much added value in being able to discuss such issues and also visit the Acropolis, the agora and other venues where both public and private ethics were debated so profoundly and originally.
I noticed that in your Thematic Session today you will be talking not only about ethics, integrity and transparency, but also about cutting-edge issues such as artificial intelligence, personal data and cryptocurrencies. I would like to confirm that all these are treated as priorities by our Bank and by all European central banks, in our effort to embrace modernity without losing our independence or our soul.
As you may know, the Bank of Greece is approaching its hundred-year mark. In the upcoming celebrations, but also in meetings such as yours, we will try to honour not only the achievements of the Bank, but also democracy, participation and collegiality, values that we at the Bank and, I am sure, bodies such as yours, hold very dear.
I wish you success in your business and a pleasant stay in Athens.