At 25, the European Central Bank celebrates an “irreversible” single currency

2023-05-24 21:01:51

ECB President Christine Lagarde with two of her predecessors, Jean-Claude Trichet (left) and Mario Draghi (centre) gathered around the birthday cake celebrating the 25th anniversary of the monetary institution, in Frankfurt, May 24, 2023 KAI PFAFFENBACH / AP

How better to sum up the strange relationship of the French with the European Central Bank (ECB)? For the 25^e anniversary of the monetary institution, celebrated with great fanfare on Wednesday May 24, the German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and his Minister of the Economy Christian Lindner had made the trip. The “three European presidents” (of the Commission, of the Council and of the Parliament) were present. Spain was represented by its Deputy Prime Minister, Belgium the same, Slovakia by its Head of Government, Cyprus by its President, Italy and Austria by their Minister of Economy…

And France? The Head of State, Emmanuel Macron, did not come. Neither did his economy minister, Bruno Lemaire. A week before the event, the name of no member of the French government was confirmed to attend the event.

Finally, it was Laurence Boone, the Secretary of State in charge of Europe, who was dispatched to prevent the tricolor representation from being limited to a diplomat or a senior official. Admittedly, this renowned economist has been in the corridors of power for a long time, but she only entered politics in July 2022, when she took her current position in government.

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Of course, the headquarters of the ECB is located in Frankfurt, which partially explains the strong German presence. “We are proud to be [son] host country », did not fail to underline Olaf Scholz. But the city is in fact equidistant between Paris and Berlin. And the Chancellor recalled that he had already visited the headquarters of the institution shortly after his arrival at the head of the government, “because it is at the heart of our currency, which is one of the most successful European projects”.

Eloge de Draghi et de son « whatever it takes »

Throughout the evening, in the huge entrance hall of the ECB tower, a grand gala dinner was held receiving some two hundred guests to celebrate this quarter century – the monetary institution was founded on 1^is June 1998, while euro banknotes and coins were introduced on 1^is January 2002.

The French Christine Lagarde, its president, who excels in this kind of exercise, notably received her two predecessors, Jean-Claude Trichet and Mario Draghi (the first president of the institution, Wim Duisenberg, died in 2005).

Everyone insisted on what seems obvious today: the single currency has not only survived, but it is hardly contested anymore. “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 policies of the ECB, but they no longer question whether being in the euro was the Good choice “, emphasizes Christine Lagarde. The ECB may be accused of letting inflation slip away, or on the contrary of raising interest rates too sharply, at the risk of stifling growth, but its very existence is not in question. The euro is “irreversible”pointed out Christine Lagarde and Olaf Scholz, using the same word.

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