Ivo Maes
March 2012
National Bank of Belgium
"Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa was one of the great architects of the euro. He
is remembered in particular as co-rapporteur for the Delors Committee
and as a founding member of the European Central Bank's Executive Board.
He studied economics at the Bocconi University in Milan and at the
Massachusets Institute of Technology (with Modigliani). He started his
professional career at the Research Department in the Bank of Italy. For
Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa, becoming Director-General of the European
Commission's DG II (from 1979 to 1983), was a defining moment in both
his career and life. At the Commission, his main priority was the
European Monetary System, which was launched in March 1979. The early
years of the EMS were difficult, with tensions on the exchange markets,
several currency realignments and the shelving of plans for a second
institutional phase. Padoa-Schioppa was very closely involved in several
projects to strengthen the EMS and to improve economic policy
convergence. Moreover, he tried to strengthen the position of the ECU
and to relaunch European financial integration. The most forceful exposé
of his ideas was probably the inconsistent quartet, stating that the
combination of free trade, free capital movement, independent monetary
policies and fixed exchange rates was not sustainable.
The other main objective for Padoa-Schioppa, as Director-General of DG
II, was the strengthening of its analytical capacity. Coming from the
Bank of Italy, and with strong contacts with the Anglo-Saxon academic
world, Padoa-Schioppa sought to develop DG II's model-building capacity
and its links with the academic world. As such, he played a crucial role
in the professionalisation of economics at the European Commission. As
Padoa-Schioppa emphasised, professionalism and "telling the truth" are
probably the best ways that international institutions can contribute to
strong and sustainable economic policies and performances. The
professionalisation of DGII, together with the strengthening of the
Monetary Directorate, were furthermore essential elements to prepare DG
II for the important role it would play in the EMU process, also
intellectually (for instance with the study "One Market, One Money",
CEC, 1990). As such this is also a beautiful illustration of
Padoa-Schioppa's emphasis on the importance of strong institutions, also
in the process of European integration.
At the Commission, Padoa-Schioppa became further immersed in several
European networks. Of crucial importance here were his contacts with
Jacques Delors. This would be of enormous importance for his further
career, becoming one of the architects of the single currency. However,
he was also among the first to warn of the dangers of "a currency
without a State"."
Source: http://www.nbb.be/doc/ts/publications/wp/wp222En.pdf
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