Trichet calls for stricter rules to stabilise Europe
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.The outgoing president of the European Central Bank called for changes yesterday to the EU treaty to rein in countries whose policies were threatening to imperil the entire bloc, as European leaders faced pressure to solve the sovereign debt crisis.
Jean-Claude Trichet said the treaty should be changed to stop member states straying from common norms, implying the need for a closer union under which decisions could be imposed on errant countries. "In my view it is necessary to change the treaty to prevent one member state from straying and creating problems for all the others," he said. "To do this, one even needs to be able to impose decisions."
The Continent's top monetary policymaker, who will hand over the reins of the ECB to Italy's Mario Draghi at the end of this month, added that the eurozone's debt problems had come about because some members had not kept a sufficiently tight leash on their finances.
"We don't have a federal budget, we don't have a political federation so we have to fully respect the constraints and the mutual supervision rules that exist in the eurozone," Mr Trichet said in an interview on French radio.
"It is the case that in Europe we have a bigger problem than others and this is a problem of supervision and governance within the eurozone."
He did, however, add that even without a new treaty, changes to the current set of rules would be better applied in light of the crisis. "I think that the lesson of the cost of negligence, of the cost of lax management, is sufficiently potent that in future, rules ... will be followed much more strictly," he said.
The comments came after G20 finance ministers and central bankers stepped up the pressure on European leaders to solve the crisis. After meeting in Paris at the weekend, they said they expected the EU summit on 23 October should "decisively address the current challenges through a comprehensive plan". Highlighting the worries, the Japanese Finance minister, Jun Azumi, warned that if left unchecked, the crisis in Europe could affect growth in emerging markets.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments