Trichet calls breakup of euro zone 'unthinkable'

[Joanne98]

PARIS: European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet said Thursday it is "unthinkable" that a country such as Greece, Italy or Spain that recently has suffered a credit downgrade would be forced to drop out of the 16-nation European common currency union.

Speaking in an interview on French television channel France 24, Trichet said "It's unthinkable, I've said it before, completely unthinkable."

Last month, Standard & Poor's cut its rating on the Spanish government's credit — to AA+ from AAA — citing "structural weaknesses in the Spanish economy."

With the economic downturn gathering momentum, other countries fear they may be next. After Greece was reduced to A- last month, S&P said it also is reviewing Ireland's AAA status and Portugal's AA-. Even economies as big as Britain's are coming under market pressure as the costs of the crisis mount.

Credit ratings downgrades can make it more expensive for countries to borrow money and often dampen investors' enthusiasm for the country.

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2009/02/05/business/EU-France-Trichet.php

Political leaders are the same all over the world. They are always the LAST to know what's happening!

[notesdev]

1. If it were unthinkable

then how come he was thinking about it enough to comment on it?

[Art_from_Ark]

2. Since he was giving an interview

I assume he was asked to comment on the possibility of such a scenario

[notesdev]

3. Well...

the point is that someone did think it enough to raise it in conversation. So it's quite clearly not "unthinkable".

Reminds me of Paulson assuring everyone our economy was sound. If our economy had really been sound, there would be no need to assure anyone of it.