The Trial

Abstract

It is time to ‘give the floor’ to what the leading officials in the project of European Monetary Union (EMU) have said and continue to say in its defence (or more aptly, in trumpeting its success). A ready-made brief on their behalf comes from Stephen Cecchetti and Kermit Schoenholtz (2008). These authors (the first is Economic Adviser and Head of the Monetary and Economics Department at the Bank for International Settlements, the second is professor at Stern School of Business, New York University) conducted a series of 17 extended interviews between June 2007 and February 2008 with a range of current and former high officials at the ECB, and with other policymakers and scholars who viewed the evolution of the ECB from privileged vantage points outside the institution.