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THE FORMER HEAD of the European Central Bank, Jean Claude Trichet, has said he will not be appearing before the Oireachtas banking inquiry.
Trichet said his decision not to speak before the inquiry was based on rules in the ECB’s constitution.
“If the rule was changed, I would apply the new rule,” he told Newstalk’s Shona Murray. “All decisions are taken collectively by all members and the responsibility of explaining decisions are in the hands of the national governors.”
The former ECB president, who opposed the idea of burning Anglo bondholders, also said the decision on the bank guarantee was taken “by the Irish government alone without any consideration” either with the European Central Bank or other countries.
Also speaking to Newstalk this morning, Minister for Social Protection Joan Burton said that while the ECB is independent, “it’s not unaccountable and that’s very important”.
Trichet said that any letters sent by the ECB to Ireland around the time of the banking collapse are the property of the Irish government and it is up to them to release them. Several requests have been made for a 2010 letter sent to then Finance Minister Brian Lenihan about the bailout to be published but the ECB has always refused.
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A high-ranking, highly-paid Eurocrat who refuses to countenance the principle of democratic accountability. How convenient.
I knew most if you numbskulls would react negatively to his decision even though most know nothing about this man.
I’ll tell you, he’s right. Why would he put himself into a situation he doesn’t need to? He’s done some excellent work at the ECB and between himself, Bernanke and King, tried to control the first world recession the best they could before it got too out of control with no mechanisms in place as something of this calibre has never happened before.
If people want to blame the root cause of the recession look no further than NYSE.
@Bee. Em, the NYSE is an exchange and facilitates buying and selling by matching orders. It doesn’t set prices or otherwise force people to do stupid things so it’s a bit of a stretch to blame it.
And how did they solve it? Qe and zero interest rates which has inflated huge asset bubbles which have done nothing only paper over the cracks of the original crisis. Meanwhile we have growth based on debt not productivity, bigger banks, increased leverage, increased income inequality, government instability and the rise of fascism. Yeah great job!
Beeshop, what are you on lad?
@Bee Shop: Ridiculously arrogant and facetious analysis on your part. I’ve been a Eurocrat, so I’m not speaking out of my ass. The Lisbon Treaty assures National Parliaments greater oversight of EU decision-making, and the proposed banking “inquiry” is no ordinary procedural matter. If Trichet has done such “excellent work” as you put it, then why can’t he agree to defend his good name before an Oireachtas enquiry? Trichet ought to be censured by the European Parliament for his refusal to defend before the Oireachtas the grave implications of ECB monetary policy decisions taken on his watch. He was appointed to oversee our devolved monetary policy; not to favour the bank balances of a cabal of investment houses. Let him defend that “excellent” work.
It is more about who he might have to implicate (Merkel/Sarkosy) – he was their puppet after all!
Sounds like some Banker and Charity CEO ‘s that we know ?
Good man Jean Claude ….nobody is responsible for anything , happy retirement
Sounds like an irish td or banker
That B sure sounded like a W when I read that.
Who’s f.cking responsibility is it , so far everyone seems to get a pass .
Copies of letters sent to Brian Lenhihan are still in the possession of his widow and with the ECB. Why either party will not release them is an indictment in itself.
Why would his wife have such letters?
Don’t diminish the stupidity of Brian Lenihan and Brian Cowman in the collapse. They took a gamble that the world money markets were as thick as the average FF voter……they were found out and we are left paying off their debts…………….at least its comforting to know Brian Cowman is safely ensconced on the board of Topaz now….I expect the company to collapse over the summer.
Topaz won’t collapse.
Cowen was only given a directorship, with annual pay and with no say in the daily running of Topaz, as payment for strokes rendered whilst in power.
Strokes that the Irish taxpayer will have to pay for, no doubt.
Next, you’ll see him on Tubridy, telling us all to tighten our belts just like Sutherland did.
Yes, you’ll see Tubridy licking up to him on front of a bunch of his handpicked Offaly sleeveens.
Remember this guys.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErxADYAfJQ4
It was up to the irish government to stand up for the irish people but they didnt, it means more for them to be seen as good europeans than been a good irish politican. We got ” we all partied” so we all must pay. We’ll get lip service that it would be helpful if trichet appeared, but anyway ask those wannabe MEPs will they raise the matter and get the rules changed.
Totally agree Niamh.
Thats exactly it. Remember that Kenny blames you, me and every other person for the mess the country is in. It was all our fault.
So…. where is that letter then?
Shredded, I’d say. It’s release would implicate the late Mr Lenihan and Fianna Fail in grossly misrepresenting the best interests of the Irish people in favour of representing the interests of the very wealthy. It probably wouldn’t portray the ECB in the best light either. Trichet was a strong supporter of ensuring that the bondholders, including those at the especially toxic Anglo-Irish bank, were paid. Shredded, I reckon. The interests of of the wealthy being more than adequately served over the majority again.
letters sent to Brian Lenhihan are still in the possession of his then office. It seem to be that both sides more so the government were the cause of the collapse.
Oh, please. The Trichet-Lenihan letters were dated 19 November, 2010 (from Trichet), and 21 November 2010 (reply from Lenihan). I wish people would have at least a little understanding of the concept of time. And understand the stage of “cover-up” we were in during late 2010. As opposed to the stage of “cover-up” we were in during September 2008 etc.
FF allowed the bubble to infate; the buck stops there.
If FF hadn’t taken away the Central Banks powers in 2004 to control credit in the economy, if FF had put a competent Regulator in place rather than a yes man and if FF had not told people to go commit suicide if they didn’t like the bubble , if there was no cosy racing tent of developers, bank CEOs, law firms and FF politicians on the make etc etc
Oh yeah, and if foreigners didn’t lend Irish institutions the money … I forgot. it is the foreigners fault.
They did more than that. They actively participated in an extravagant free for all with taxpayers’ money. Public spending doubled under the FF govt.
Without that, we would still have had a property crash, a banking collapse and a world recession. What we would not have had is a massive structural deficit which we have still not fully closed. It accounts for two third of our total debt. For all the ire rightly directed at the banks, the point that is missing is that more than two thirds of the austerity is down to FF’s spending. And some parties – you know which ones – criticised them for not spending even more.
You’re right. I remember EVERY SINGLE PARTY complaining about lack of government spending. Every one. No exceptions.
Dear people of Ireland you have been screwed with the help of FF FG and lab rats banker minions, now abut that water we’ve been eying up!
Well, of course Trichet is not that important.
No doubt, Trichet gave tacit approval to the ideology prevailing in the period 2001-2007. He was a free-market ideologist, like Greenspan, and everyone else at the time.
He upheld and extolled the light touch regulation derived ideological bug.
But the first order of business for this enquiry must be to look into the nature of the prevailing business ethics that came to the fore in the life of THIS country 2001-2007.
We know, ultimately, the numbers added up. But there was a reality lying under those numbers that ought to have been challenged, and it would have been challenged if it was not for this ethical based problem.
And following from that it is crucial for the enquiry to acknowledge that it was the unregenerate upholding and extolling of these self-same ethics that lead to the decisions and action taken in the political and social sphere 2008-2012.
(That is the fact that helps us better understand the nature of the “cover-up” in that period.)
No doubt, Trichet played a significant part in perpetuating the cultural, social and economic assumptions that the Irish government and establishment property swindle was built on.
It is probable that he may well likely have been fearful that the logic of the boom was about to collapse around everyone’s ears, and what was required was to keep throwing the dice. No matter the cost.
But ultimately, focusing on Trichet would be a diversion. For example, the Trichet-Lenihan letters came much after the guarantee. It would be better if we focused on the clearly unilateral action taken by the Irish leading up to September 2008.
I.e. Rather than pointing around at others, we really need to look at ourselves first, in the most civilised light we the Irish people are innately capable of.
Well if we did go ahead and bail out the banks without consulting with the ecb then our government needs to be held accountable by not reversing it as soon as they got into power
Yes we did. The guarantee was an absolutely unilateral action. And the guarantee was the decision that all subsequent decisions hinged on. That is still worth emphasising and remembering.
ECB/IMF’s little helper. Plunge a nation into debt in order to buy resources for pennies on the pound.
I point the finger at Brian Cowan, the most incompetent leader this country has ever had……biffo – buffoon.
Chris Kirk what really annoys me is this dipso Brian Clown is in receipt of a huge pension instead of kicking his heels in Mountjoy for what he has done to the nation.Shame its Ireland and not Iceland where they deal with their crooks in a different way.
Not only that Gus, he’s now got a cushy job at the Board of Topaz, owned by his chum Denis O’Brien. Topaz was formally Shell, remember them, the ones that have full rights to our Oil of the coast of Rosport. And what Government gave away those rights? Have a guess. Pigs at the trough can’t get enough.
It is true. Ireland took the decision to guarantee the banks on their own. In fact the government only told the ECB a few minutes before they told the public. And the EU and ECB were seriously angry at Ireland for announcing such a scheme.
Sorry, how rude of me I forgot to say a good morning to our FF/FG/Lab trolls on here this morning thought I guess they will be too busy to see this as they are eagerly preparing for the coming election…….not
Needs a good kick in the arse
I strongly believe that Cowan didn’t ask Lenihan to stand aside during his treatment because he knew he was in no fit state to make decisions. I believe his “plan” was to”sort the whole mess out first then take all the credit”. Only problem was that biffo didn’t realise that he himself was a totally clueless idiot.
And now appointed to the board of denis o’briens TOPAZ
Don’t forget that Brian Lenhihan was very ill at the time and was working. If you want to point your finger at Brian why not point it at his doctor, think about it.
Does cancer cause pathological lying and a terminal case of institutionalisation?
Medication can do strange things, and if you were on medication for cancer then if would be a wee bit on the strong side, so should someone who was terminally ill be aloud to work on such a sensitive case.
I watched my dad go through the chemo regime, and he would fall asleep in the middle of eating meals. Under no circumstances should Lenihan have been allowed continue in office during treatment.
exactly barry,
i watched, my dad go from a strong man to a skeleton who was too ill to hold a conversation with his kids, no way he or lenihan or anyone can work during that treatment.
Can you imagine asking a bus driver how he is only for him to reply, not to good the chemo took a lot out of me this morning…………………………..
The devil in the Lisbon treaty detail will further reveal how stitched up all this banking crisis really is and can we really expect any accountability…? Doubtful! Trichet didn’t have such a clean record himself prior to being ECB chief, corruption etc. as for the FF handling of matters – a crying shame. And all the while our assets are being stripped, privatised and WE foot the bill. FG/Lab have perpetuated the scandal – out with them too!
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