BERLIN (MNI) – European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet
said Thursday that the Eurozone is currently better off than the U.S.
and Japan.
“The paradox of Europe is that the euro area is in a better
position [in terms of consolidated position] than say the U.S. and
Japan,” Trichet said, speaking at a panel discussion at the World
Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos.
“As a single market with a single currency we are in a better
position than others. But this is no time for complacency. We still have
to work very, very hard,” the ECB president stressed.
“In the euro area, we really have to improve governance,” Trichet
argued, pointing especially to the EU Stability and Growth Pact.
“With the benefit of hindsight, the major countries in the euro
area wanted to blow up the pact,” the ECB chief asserted. “There was a
benign neglect; quasi-universal. We had to fight very fiercely only to
maintain the pact with the small countries that wanted to maintain the
pact.”
“We had benign neglect vis-a-vis fical policies,” Trichet
criticized. “There we have a lot to do.”
“We are shipping our message to governments. Reinforcing governance
is of the essence,” he underlined once more.
–Berlin bureau: +49-30-22 62 05 80; twidder@marketnews.com
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