Jean-Claude Trichet could have enjoyed a comfortable retirement after stepping down as president of the European Central Bank in 2011. Commanding an annual salary of €370,000 in his old job, the Frenchman is now paid a pension of up to 70 per cent that amount.
Instead, Trichet has been kept busy playing a game of musical chairs with Italy’s technocrat former prime minister Mario Monti. In one of his final acts as ECB chief, Trichet spearheaded the downfall of Silvio Berlusconi by insisting that the lascivious rogue introduce unpalatable economic “reforms” in Italy as a condition of emergency “assistance”.
Subscribe to The New Statesman today from only £8.99 per month
Content from our partners
