This does not sound as if it was a fun event. Even the blame game was old news.
EU dignitaries coming together in Frankfurt on Wednesday evening for a farewell ceremony for outgoing European Central Bank (ECB) chief Jean-Claude Trichet gave voice to a siege mentality against market pressures. Former French leader Valery Giscard d’Estaing in the opening speech at the Old Opera House in the ECB home town blamed speculative trading for the wide-reaching impact of Greek insolvency and called for profound reforms in the EU banking sector…For his part, former German chancellor Helmut Schmidt, who described himself as a “grandfather of Europe”, hit out at what he called the “psychopathic” atmosphere of crisis generated by markets, the Anglo-Saxon media and populist leaders.
“This talk of a crisis of the euro is merely hot air emanated by journalists and politicians,” he said.
Nothing to worry about then…