In playing down the impact of the euro's surge on currency markets, European Central Bank chief Jean-Claude Trichet is reverting to type in a career marked by indifference to politicians' anguish about foreign-exchange levels.
As the euro surged to new highs against the dollar last week, prompting a renewed bout of concern about the impact on European exporters, the former governor of the Bank of France was careful to strike a balanced tone.
After the ECB Thursday resisted calls from some politicians for an interest-rate cut to clip the euro's wings, Trichet confined himself to saying that the bank "does not like excessive volatility or excessive turbulence" in exchange rates. He acknowledged that the strong euro was having "a negative impact on the price competitiveness of eurozone exporters".
But thus far, "this should be partly compensated for by the ongoing expansion of global demand", Trichet said.
The ECB chief's refusal to panic in the face of the runaway euro is of a piece with his long-held stance that, confronted with an unstable and unpredictable financial system, policy-makers are best off coupling a robust currency with economies flexible enough to cope with periodic shocks.