What better way to sum up the strange relationship between the French and the European Central Bank (ECB)? For the 25th anniversary of the monetary institution, celebrated with due pomp on Wednesday, May 24, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and his Economy Minister Christian Lindner made the trip. The "three presidents" of the European Union (Commission, Council and Parliament) were also present. Spain was represented by its deputy prime minister, Belgium by its deputy prime minister, Slovakia by its head of government, Cyprus by its president, Italy and Austria by their economy ministers.
And France? President Emmanuel Macron was not there. Nor was his Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire. A week before the event, not a single member of the French government was confirmed to attend.
Ultimately, Secretary of State for Europe Laurence Boone was sent, to ensure that French attendance was not reduced to a diplomat or senior civil servant. Although this prominent economist has been in the corridors of power for a long time, she did not enter politics until July 2022, when she took up her current government post.
The ECB is headquartered in Frankfurt, which partly explains the strong German presence. "We are proud to be the host country," Olaf Scholz stressed. But the city is in fact halfway between Paris and Berlin. And the chancellor recalled that he had already visited the institution's headquarters shortly after taking office, "because it is at the heart of our currency, which is one of the most successful European projects."
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The huge lobby of the ECB tower was the setting for a gala dinner for some 200 guests to celebrate this quarter century – the monetary institution was founded on June 1, 1998, while the euro banknotes and coins were introduced on January 1, 2002.
French ECB President Christine Lagarde, who excels in this type of exercise, welcomed two of her predecessors, Jean-Claude Trichet and Mario Draghi (the first president of the institution, Wim Duisenberg, died in 2005).
They all insisted on what seems obvious today – the single currency has not only survived, but is no longer significantly disputed. "We have now reached a position where people separate the institutions from their policies, which is the proof of success. They may or may not like the ECB's policies, but they no longer wonder whether being in the euro was the right choice," Lagarde emphasized. The ECB may be accused of letting inflation slip, or conversely of raising interest rates too high at the risk of stifling growth, but its very existence is not in question. The euro is "irreversible," Lagarde and Scholz stressed, using the same word.
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