Frankfurt, 04/01/2000 (Agence Europe) - Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa, the member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank responsible for international issues, has, in an interview with "Le Monde" published on 30 December, underlined the difficulty for the Euro represented in its "being a currency without State." Many people "believe that monetary union without political union was premature"; he was not of this opinion, but that "the Eurosystem needs development subsequent to the European integration process." He asserts that "for centuries a currency was the expression of an economic system, but also an institutional one. When I go to international meetings, my colleague from the Federal Reserve has a Minister with him. I wonder who is my Minister. For the Central Bank, it is necessary to be independent, but it is not good to be in institutional solitude." According to Mr. Padoa-Schioppa, the future challenges, for the Eurosystem, are to continue insuring price stability (and insure this mission "in a European economy must reach the levels of growth susceptible of reabsorbing unemployment") and to "establish themselves as a separate Central Bank" (it concerns "not only its competence in its monetary policy, but in all the sectors where the Central Bank normally expresses its voice and position", such as "the important international questions" or the "structure and development of the European financial markets").
Questioned on the basis of the Euro vis-à-vis the Dollar (see the opinion of Christian Noyer, Vice-President of the ECB, in yesterdays' Europe, p.12), Mr. Padoa-Schioppa noted that at its launch "the Euro started very high" and a large part of the 1999 fall "is in fact a return to the norm." According to Mr.Padoa-Schioppa, the "strong point of the Euro are still underestimated and they are destined to play a more significant role (…) the fundamental elements of the strength of the currency are all present." "Surely there are sectors, such as exchange rates, where we have spoken too much and where it would be good and even important that the media only pay attention to the President" (of the ECB), admitted Mr. Padoa-Schioppa. As for the "decision making procedure" within the Bank, Mr. Padoa-Schioppa commented that "the external observers still suspect that the Council of governors is a place of international negotiations. They negotiate Spanish interests against German interests. This is not the case: each council member expresses himself in accordance with the general interest of the Euro-zone. Naturally he adds information on the region of the zone that is his country. It is exactly the same thing within the American Federal reserve. During the two large decisions taken, the rate of April 8 and the rise of November 4, there was no division within the Council of Governors, even if different opinions are expressed.