…I’m a euro financier, no time to talk.
At least that comes to mind as tensions run ever higher at this year’s Davos World Economic Forum.
On Thursday Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan stormed out of a debate on the Middle East. Now it seems jitters are starting to stalk the European central bankers and finance ministers too.
The Telegraph’s Ambrose Evans-Pritchard reports how Europe’s top officials have been forced to make repeated assurances that the eurozone is in no danger of falling apart. Or as Trichet was specifically forced to say: “There is no risk that the euro will break apart.”
As Evans-Pritchard points out, this is the second day Trichet has had to contend with such questions, and according to the business editor seemed ill-at-ease specifically when asked about whether Greece and Italy had become so uncompetitive they might be forced out of the EMU.
It follows comments on the euro’s workability from the IMF’s Dominique Strauss-Kahn. He suggested some member states give up some control over fiscal policy.
Of course, all of that is nothing compared to the “ill-at-ease” sentiment oozing from Italian Finance Minister Giulio Tremonti. When asked about the prospects of a Unicredit bailout in an interview with CNBC’s Geoff Cutmore, Tremonti just, errr, walked out. Lovely.
Related link:
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