Dr. Markus Baumanns, Helmut Schmidt, Prof. Willie Paterson

The conference witnessed captivating speeches by former German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt and former French President Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, challenging the current global financial system.

For all the gloomy background, the conference was treated to a virtuoso display of economic and political analysis by a bevy of top-line speakers including former German Finance Minister Theo Waigel, former UK European Minister Denis MacShane, Bundesbank board member Hans-Helmut Kotz and Deutsche Bank board member Jürgen Fitschen.

A range of speakers voiced tributes to Schmidt, who will be 90 in December, as a leading post-war European statesman whose accomplishments straddle the fields of politics, security and economics. Rising to his feet to respond to a standing ovation led by GBF Chairman Professor William Paterson, Schmidt was visibly moved by the reception from the audience – even though he described himself with Hanseatic irony as a “humble old has-been”.

Afterwards, Schmidt addressed his thanks to the GBF and BCCG for what he described as “flattering” accounts of his life’s work in a special 52-page conference brochure. This contained 18 separate tributes by personalities including UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband, European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet, IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn, German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrück, former German Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher, former Bundesbank President Karl Otto Pöhl and former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker. Download 'Tribute to Helmut Schmidt' conference brochure

Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, David Marsh

Georg Boomgaarden, Bernd Ziesemer

Bernard de Montferrand, Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, Philippe Lagayette

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