WIM Duisenberg, the father of the euro and former head of the European Central Bank, was found dead in his swimming pool in the south of France yesterday. He was 70.
He was found unconscious in the pool at his home in the town of Faucon, and could not be resuscitated. An initial post-mortem examination showed he drowned after an unspecified heart problem.
Dominique de Villepin, the French prime minister, expressed "great sadness" at Mr Duisenberg's death, saying he "played a vital role in establishing the common currency and the stability of the euro".
Mr Duisenberg was the first head of the European Central Bank, serving from 1998 to 2003. Having shepherded the euro through its 1999 introduction, he became known as the father of the 12-nation European common currency.
Tall, stoop-shouldered and with a mane of white hair, he sometimes came across as more of a professor than a heavyweight policy-maker.
A chain-smoking golf lover, he kept a low profile as head of the ECB, but was a major figurehead with overall responsibility for price stability in the euro zone of more than 300 million people.
During his tenure as ECB chief, Mr Duisenberg was known for his cautious monetary policy and was eager to defend the euro through its early years.
He sometimes frustrated financial markets and politicians by sticking to the bank's inflation-fighting stance, keeping rates higher than some investors and officials would have liked.
"I hear, but I don't listen" to such pleas was one of his typically blunt responses. Mr Duisenberg repeatedly said it was up to European governments to pursue structural reforms - such as loosening rigid rules on hiring and firing - if they wanted more growth.
Higher rates are the bank's main tool to fight inflation, but they can crimp economic growth. The bank's tight policy helped keep the euro a strong, stable currency even as it was criticised as a drag on growth.
Perhaps Mr Duisenberg's most difficult moment came in October 2000 when he suggested that the ECB would not intervene to support the declining euro before the United States presidential election. Speculators promptly pounded the euro to new lows, and Mr Duisenberg's lack of caution was widely criticised.
One of his biggest achievements was the smooth introduction of euro notes and coins in early 2002. Twelve currencies were removed from circulation and replaced with the new money in a huge logistical effort that defied predictions of long queues and consumer confusion.
His selection as ECB chief was championed by Germany but faced controversy when France proposed its central banker, Jean-Claude Trichet, as a rival candidate. Mr Trichet took over in 2003.
Willem Frederik Duisenberg was born on 9 July, 1935, in the Dutch city of Heerenveen. He became a member of the Dutch Labour Party and received a doctorate in economics from Groningen University.
He served as finance minister and central bank chief in the Netherlands and once headed the European Monetary Institute in Frankfurt.
He is survived by his wife, Gretta Duisenberg-Bedier de Prairie, and two adult sons.
Yeh, what exactly is the relevance of this to anything? (except that it lets us know that the threadstarter is in lvoe with the euro).
Re: Father of the euro dies in swimming pool
August 3 2005, 10:12 AM
I take that as "love", Bry, rather than "Ivoe" ;-)
He wasn't in love with the euro to start with but then when he started posting here he found that Tony was against the euro, and because Tony is pro-imperial Daniel taught himself how to be pro-euro with the help of the training he got from www.google.com (along with search strings such as "euro is good + UK + poor + I love Germany).
In case you haven't realised, Daniel is the latest in a string of manic-metrics to have come to this board (after Matahari, Euric and Eric). He started quite sane with some interesting (if misguided) posts but now he's gone as far as to be generally ignored.
The same is happening on the USMA list-serv (to a lesser degree).
I'm sure 'proper pro-metrics' like martin, andy etc are overjoyed to have "another one" in their ranks!
;-)
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