Jean-Claude Trichet retired as President of the ECB on Oct 31, 2011. In his final press conference he was criticized by the German press and became very combative.
He boasted about keeping inflation low and said his ECB deserved congratulations for keeping German inflation at 1.55% on average for 13 years. He brags about how hawkish he was.
It’s clear in hindsight that Trichet was far too worried about German approval rather than appreciating the full scope of the crisis in the eurozone. If he was more forceful at the time, Draghi might not be contemplating sovereign QE now.
He thought he was fighting against inflation but — like a general fighting the last war — he really should have been laying the groundwork for the fight against deflation.
