Is the strategy of benign neglect the right one in times Asia is holding down its currencies? Trichet: On Asian emerging economies’ currencies we have a very clear message which the Central Banks of the G7 together with the executive branches have confirmed this spring. We all say the Asian emerging economies as well as the global economy would be better off if these currencies would be more flexible. DIE ZEIT: Markets are worried about the crisis of the sub-prime credit market in America. Are you worried as well? Trichet: In a number of segments in the global finance system we have observed in the past a certain under-appreciation of risks. That was visible in the low level of volatility, the low level of spreads, the low level of risk premiums. During the last weeks we saw a correction. At the moment I would say it has been a healthy correction. But I remain cautious: it is no time for complacency. DIE ZEIT: At the moment there's a lively debate in- and outside the ECB whether the second pillar, the monetary analysis, matters anymore. The first revision of the ECB strategy came 2003, five years after its implementation in 1998. Will the next revision come 2008, five years after the last one? Trichet: No. The two pillar strategy has been very effective.
In the time of the preparation of the Treaty I worked with many German friends, for example the Bundesbank Presidents KarlOtto Pöhl, Helmut Schlesinger and Hans Tietmeyer. One of the most inspiring phases was the wording of the Treaty with Hans Tietmeyer, Horst Köhler and Jürgen Stark in particular. It was due to them that the Maastricht Treaty was well constructed and worked. Here you saw the will to unite Europe and the influence of this particular friendship between us. DIE ZEIT: You mentioned independence as the legacy of the Bundesbank. Do you have an absolute independence in mind? An independence that forbids even critique from the political side? Trichet: It is simpler than that: I refer to Article 108 of the Maastricht Treaty. It says the executive branches in particular should not try to influence our decisions. It is a very clear wording. So it's not the ECB who defines its independence, it is the Treaty, which was approved by the people of the member states, by the people of all our democracies. Everybody is welcome to criticise our policy - the media, the analysts, the academics. And we are, as an independent institution, as a last resort, accountable to the people of Europe. By the way it is not known that I go more often to the European Parliament than our friends from the American Federal Reserve go to the US Congress.