I would like to conclude by reassuring readers who might have got the impression that the previous column is too influenced by the opponents of globalisation or far-left ideas, by allowing Valéry Giscard d'Estaing to speak. He is one of the founding fathers of the Euro and the former president of the Convention who elaborated the draft Constitutional Treaty.

Speaking last week at the Brussels Economic Forum, he declared: “One may be surprised by the banking profession, inclined to give lessons but which, in reality, is a weak link in our system and periodically drags large countries into large-scale financial crises that temporarily compromise the effective functioning of the economy. This would be to misunderstand people and particularly bankers. Many of them would willingly damn themselves for a few base points on interest rates. After centuries of competition, financers succeeded, in all developed nations, in getting monetary power withdrawn from states or politicians, judged to be incapable of good management, and have applied themselves with a real talent in creating what we call “bubbles” or an artistic way of producing an artificial currency…

A new regulatory approach is indispensable for introducing common sense and security in what I call the banking casino, which has been distanced from the basic banking profession and which consists in funding investment, production and trade. I can already hear the protests of indignation against this attack on fundamental freedoms”. Faced with perturbations, “the eurozone is partly protected from price hikes, practically fixed in dollars, by the remarkable stability of its currency. It seems like a realm of rationality: our external trade is not in deficit, the euro is a stable currency. A stable currency is also an economic, sociological, cultural and obviously political fact…It is clear that political intervention is desirable from the eurozone to lead the US and China towards modifying, no matter how little, their financial and monetary behaviour”. Europe, however, has to speak with a single voice, which could become possible with the Lisbon Treaty. The euro could then become a citizen's currency. “European citizens should be proud of their currency. For the moment, they are using it, which isn't the same thing or they are complaining about it, imputing it with imaginary or exaggerated effects”.

In his address to the different figures listening to him (including European Commissioner Joaquin Almunia), Giscard d'Estaing concluded that “significant problems await you. It will be you who will have to respond to the questions posed. This is a heavy but extremely stimulating responsibility”.