Europe's response

Speakers stress that decisive modernisation of the global financial architecture is necessary and that the Euro is a vital pillar of stability.

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Exchanging views on the emergence of the crisis

Unexpected results

“The sharpening of the credit crisis has had some unexpected results. Who would have thought that within a couple of months Gordon Brown would have been transformed into a European or even global leader? And, again, that the Lisbon treaty might now be more likely to be ratified – because there may be a new government in Ireland after the setbacks.”

Sir Michael Arthur, British Ambassador to the UK

Schmidtian signature tune

“One of the great surprises has been how quickly the financial fire took light. But leaders have mapped out a response relatively quickly. There is now a consensus in favour of decisive modernisation of the global financial architecture. Europe needs shared political leadership; the world needs a sound economic policy including effective banking regulation.” Download speech

Euro vital in crisis

“The crisis of the past few weeks has given rise to great strains – but Europe, after some initial hesitation, has shown cohesion. The Euro has stood up to its tests. Without the single currency and the European Central Bank, everything would have been a great deal worse.” Download speech

William Keegan, Commentator and Author, The Observer

Great influence on Britain

"Helmut Schmidt’s great influence on Britain was visible when he made a memorable contribution to the 1974 Labour party conference and won over even left-wing anti-European delegates. His acerbic view has been borne out. The UK government has boasted too much about its economic model. It doesn’t look so good now." Download notes

A remarkable success

“The Euro is a remarkable success which is often under-estimated. The ECB has taken on a leadership role. I don’t think the smaller central banks, divided as they were before the birth of the Euro, would have been able to achieve the same result if they had remained on their own. Low economic growth in the European Union has not been the fault of the single currency.”