Jean-Claude Trichet Quotes

The [EU] Council of Ministers will have far more power over the budgets of member states than the federal government in the United States has over the budget of Texas.

I interpret your question as applying more to financial stability in the euro area than to the euro itself. I do not think there has been a crisis. The euro is the single currency of 330 million people and enjoys a high degree of confidence among investors and savers because it has delivered price stability remarkably well over the last 11½ years. What we had was a situation in which a number of countries had not respected the Stability and Growth Pact. These countries have now engaged in policies of fiscal retrenchment that were overdue. They have to implement vigorously these policies which are decisive for the preservation and consolidation of financial stability in Europe.

I see that a number of persons might consider it appropriate to take the ECB as a possible scapegoat and I think that is not the case at all.

For a small, open economy like Cyprus, Euro adoption provides protection from international financial turmoil.