"Mr. Trichet is a European civil servant. He's a very important European civil servant and any civil servant will of course always stick to the plan that is there at the moment, just as he will stick to the plan that is renegotiated when it is renegotiated."

Frank Schnittger:

There is a view in Ireland that we are seriously pissing off all the people who matter in the EU

President Trichet of the ECB is already so far down the road of telling governments what to do and what not to do in the fiscal and structural reform domains, that one is hardly surprised by yet another lecture on budgetary policy from the Eurotower.  Traditionally, continental European central bankers speak very little about monetary policy in public, and are often unwilling to engage in public debate or answer questions about their monetary duties, but carry on endlessly about budgetary and structural reform matters.  It's always easier to speak about things you have no responsibility for, that are not part of your mandate and about which you probably don't know very much.