Jean-Claude Trichet | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Trichet in 2011 | |
| President of the European Central Bank | |
| In office 1 November 2003 – 31 October 2011 | |
| Vice President | Lucas Papademos Vítor Constâncio |
| Preceded by | Wim Duisenberg |
| Succeeded by | Mario Draghi |
| Governor of the Bank of France | |
| In office 19 September 1993 – 1 November 2003 | |
| Preceded by | Jacques de Larosière |
| Succeeded by | Christian Noyer |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Jean-Claude Anne-Marie Louis Trichet (1942-12-20)20 December 1942 (age 83) |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 2 |
| Education | École nationale supérieure des mines de Nancy University of Paris Sciences Po École nationale d'administration |
| Signature |  |
Jean-Claude Anne-Marie Louis Trichet (French:[ʒɑ̃klodtʁiʃɛ]; born 20 December 1942) is a French economist and senior official who wasPresident of the European Central Bank (ECB) from 2004 to 2011. Previous to his assumption of the presidency he wasGovernor of the Bank of France from 1993 to 2004.
After stepping down from the ECB, Trichet has taken speaking arrangements across France and was on the board of directors of theBank for International Settlements (BIS). He was also asked to join the Brussels-based non-doctrinalthink tankBruegel to consult on economic policy. In 2008, Trichet ranked fifth onNewsweek's list of the world's most powerful along with economic triumvirsBen Bernanke (fourth) andMasaaki Shirakawa (sixth).[1]
Trichet was born in 1942 inLyon, the son of a professor of Greek and Latin.[2] He was educated at theÉcole des Mines de Nancy, from which he graduated in 1964. He later earned a master's degree in economics from theUniversity of Paris and then trained at theInstitut d'études politiques de Paris (best known asSciences Po), finishing in 1966, and theÉcole nationale d'administration (ENA) from 1969–1971, two French higher education institutions in the field of political science and state administration.[citation needed]
From 1987, Trichet was head of theTrésor public. In this capacity, he also chaired theParis Club of creditor nations in the mid-1980s and was closely involved in debt problems that struck Latin America, Africa and the Middle East.[3] He also became a member of Washington-based financial advisory body, theGroup of Thirty. Soon after taking office at Trésor, Trichet oversaw the change to an anti-inflationaryfranc fort (strong franc) policy, to pave the way for currency union with Germany. In 1993, he led Trésor’s move to grant theBank of France independence to set its own interest rates.[4]
In 1993, Trichet was appointed governor ofBanque de France. Both as director of the French Treasury and then governor of the Banque de France, he was widely seen as one of the architects of theEuropean monetary union.[5]
By 1997,Prime MinisterLionel Jospin andPresidentJacques Chirac proposed Trichet as France’s candidate for the position as president of theEuropean Central Bank;[6] this way they opposedWim Duisenberg, the candidate preferred by the majority of theEurozone members. Under a compromise laid out by German Finance MinisterTheo Waigel, Duisenberg would resign midway through his eight-year term to make way for Trichet.[7] On 1 November 2003 he succeededWim Duisenberg.
During his time in office, Trichet oversaw the ECB’s response to theEuropean debt crisis, including its Securities Markets Programme to stem the crisis in eurozone government bond markets.[8] In 2011, ECB board memberJürgen Stark resigned in what was widely seen as a protest against this policy.[9]
On 28 January 2012, the board of theEuropean Aeronautic Defence and Space Company approved Trichet’s nomination to the Board, where he represented (with Dominique d’Hinnin of theLagardère Group) the French state’s holding companySOGEADE.[10][11]
Trichet succeededMario Monti as chairman of the European branch of theTrilateral Commission in 2012.[12]
Trichet was a member of the Eminent Persons Group on Global Financial Governance, which was established by theG20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors for the period from 2017 to 2018.[13] In early 2021, Trichet was appointed by the G20 to the High Level Independent Panel (HLIP) on financing the global commons for pandemic preparedness and response, co-chaired byNgozi Okonjo-Iweala,Tharman Shanmugaratnam andLawrence Summers.[14]
At the height of the euro crisis, Trichet publicly criticizedPresidentNicolas Sarkozy andChancellorAngela Merkel, who had agreed at a meeting in Deauville in 2010 that sovereign debt could be restructured in a bailout to make private investors pay their share; the plan was never implemented.[26]
At the ceremony for theCharlemagne Prize in 2011, Trichet called for the creation of a central finance ministry to oversee spending by countries that use theeuro.[27]
On 5 August 2011 Trichet wrote, together withMario Draghi, aletter to theItalian government to push for a series of economic measures that would soon be implemented inItaly.[28]
In 2015, Trichet joined forces with two other former governors of the Bank of France –Michel Camdessus andJacques de Larosière – in publicly supportingPresidentFrançois Hollande’s appointment ofFrançois Villeroy de Galhau to head the central bank.[29]
In a 2019 article for theFinancial Times, Trichet publicly hit back against some of his former colleagues at the European Central Bank – includingJürgen Stark andOtmar Issing, who both worked as ECB chief economist under Trichet’s presidency –, calling them "misguided" in their criticism of the loose monetary policy pursued by his successor as presidentMario Draghi.[30]
In January 2003, Trichet was put on trial with eight others charged with irregularities atCrédit Lyonnais, one of France's biggest banks. Trichet was in charge of the French treasury at that time. He was cleared in June 2003, which left the way clear for him to move to theECB.[31] A parliamentary inquiry found no wrong-doing by Trichet, other civil servants or the three finance ministers in office during the critical period.[32]
Within the European Central Bank, Trichet strongly resisted any contemplation ofGreece defaulting on its debt. It was only in October 2011, with the end of his term imminent, that consensus was reached to allow a 50% cut in the value of Greek bonds.[33]
As part of a 2015 investigation launched by Austria’s parliament into defunct lenderHypo Alpe Adria, then opposition partyNEOS named Trichet among 200 people it wanted to question.[34] At the time of Austria purchasing Hypo Alpe Adria fromBayernLB in late 2009, Trichet had lobbied for the deal.[35]
Trichet has been criticised for the ECB's response to the Great Recession, which emphasised price stability over recovery and growth.[36][37]He was also criticized when he refused to answer a question about a possible conflict of interests concerning his successor's involvement atGoldman Sachs before taking charge as head of the ECB.[38]
At age 22, Trichet married Aline Rybalka, a diplomat and translator whose parents immigrated to France from Ukraine. They have two sons: Pierre-Alexis Trichet (born 1971), a marketing strategy director at telecommunications companyOrange SA; and Jean-Nicolas Trichet (born 1974), a musician and producer.[39]
France: Grand Officer of theLegion of HonourFrance: Officer of theNational Order of Merit
Germany: Grand Cross 1st Class of theOrder of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (2011)
Hesse: Knight of theHessian Order of Merit (2011)
Luxembourg:Vision for Europe Award, for his contributions toward greater European integration (2008)Luxembourg: Collier de la Fondation du Mérite européen (6 March 2013)
Netherlands: Knight Grand Cross of theOrder of Orange-Nassau (21 January 2011)[40]
Poland: Grand Cross with Star of theOrder of Merit of the Republic of Poland (2011).[41]
Portugal: Grand Cross of theOrder of Prince Henry (6 May 2010)
Bulgaria: Honorary Doctor of the University of National and World Economy in Sofia (2009)
Japan:Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun (2018)
| Government offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Governor of the Bank of France 1993–2003 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | President of the European Central Bank 2003–2011 | Succeeded by |
| Diplomatic posts | ||
| Preceded by | European Group Chairman of theTrilateral Commission 2011–present | Incumbent |
| Presidents |
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| Current Members | ||
| Former Members |
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1 =President 2 = Vice President 3 = Chief Economist | ||
