1 / 16

Two speeches: 10 July 2008 and 21 October 2008

From Blame to Praise in Three Months Nicolas Sarkozy on the European Parliament Øyvind Gjerstad, University of Bergen (UiB). Two speeches: 10 July 2008 and 21 October 2008 Subject: monetary policy and the independence of the ECB

lolita
Download Presentation

Two speeches: 10 July 2008 and 21 October 2008

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. From Blame to Praise in Three MonthsNicolas Sarkozy on the European ParliamentØyvind Gjerstad, University of Bergen (UiB)

  2. Two speeches: 10 July 2008 and 21 October 2008 • Subject: monetary policy and the independence of the ECB • What is the relationship between the speaker and the voices in his text? • Are the voices identified or identifiable? • What is the importance of context when explaining argumentative strategies?

  3. Background: the conflict between Sarkozy and the ECB • 2007: Sarkozy and Royal opposed to ECB policies. • Political control of the Banque de France until 1993. • Political independence a prerequisite for the creation of the European Monetary Union and the euro. • Resistance from sovereignists on the left and the right. • Throughout 2007, Sarkozy criticizes the ECB. • ECB President J.-C. Trichet responds: - attempts to influence the bank constitute a violation of treaty (in International Herald Tribune, 18 July 2007).

  4. Article 108 of the Treaty establishing the European Community: Community institutions and bodies and the governments of the Member States undertake to respect this principle [of central bank independence] and not to seek to influence the members of the decision-making bodies of the ECB or of the national central banks in the performance of their tasks (cf. Smaghi 2008: 447). • Trichet: “[The treaty] says the executive branches in particular should not try to influence our decisions. It is a very clear wording. So it's not the ECB who defines its independence, it is the Treaty […]” (Interview with Die Zeit). • Support from Angela Merkel: “The slightest suspicion that we are in two minds on this would threaten the euro's stability” (in Finfacts Ireland, 21 September 2007). • Sarkozy questions his critics’ commitment to free speech and democracy (speech to the European Parliament on 13 November 2007).

  5. EXAMPLE I, 10 July 2008: Our institutions are independent. But independence does not mean indifference. If we, the politicians in charge, don’t have the courage to debate, debate what ? Which is the best economic strategy ? Which is the best monetary strategy ? Which is the best economic strategy ? Which is the best exchange rate strategy ? Which is the best interest rate strategy ? Of course, everyone, and I say this particularly to our German friends, can have their own beliefs. Butno one has the right to prevent a debate, a debate which is useful. Of course, everybody wants an agreement, the trade agreement which is being negotiated. But no one should be afraid to say that Europe mustn’t be naive. We must discuss the advantages of free trade. But we must also tell the emerging countries that there is no reason for them to claim the same rights without assuming the same responsibilities. We must accept the European debate with respect for one another but without being afraid of defending our core beliefs. We’re not undermining our core beliefs. We’re not undermining the independence of the ECB by wondering if it is reasonable to maintain interest rates at 4.25 while the Americans have interest rates at 2%. We’re participating in a debate. A peaceful debate where no one has the truth – certainly not myself – but nor necessarily do the specialists, who need to demonstrate the effectiveness of their decisions.

  6. Six occurences of but p but q, an indirect opposition of two arguments p is an argument in favor of the conclusion r q is an argument in favor of the conclusion non-r The speaker deems q to be the most pertinent. ”We’re not undermining the independence of the ECB by wondering if it is reasonable to maintain interest rates at 4.25 while the Americans have interest rates at 2%. We are participating in a debate. A peaceful debate where no one has the truth - certainly not myself - but nor necessarily do the specialists, who need to demonstrate the effectiveness of their decisions.”

  7. ‘We’re undermining the independence of the ECB by wondering if it is reasonable to maintain interest rates at 4.25 while the Americans have interest rates at 2%’ • ‘We are participating in a debate where somebody has the truth’ • ‘We are participating in a debate where Nicolas Sarkozy has the truth’ • ‘We are participating in a peaceful debate where the specialists have the truth.’

  8. p but q: • p: ‘We are participating in a peaceful debate where Sarkozy certainly does not have the truth’ • p is an argument in favor of the conclusion r. • q: ‘We are participating in a peaceful debate where the specialists who need to demonstrate the effectiveness of their actions do not necessarily have the truth’ • q is an argument in favor of the conclusion non-r. • r = ’Sarkozy should refrain from advocating his cause’ (?)

  9. Developments ahead of speech to the EP on 21 October: September: collapse of Lehman Brothers in the US. Chain reaction of failing banks, no confidence in markets. US government bailout of threatened banks. Free market philosophies discredited, political players realigning.

  10. French and EU efforts: 25 September: Sarkozy’s speech in Toulon. 4 October: European G8 summit. 8 October: 0.5 percentage point cut in the ECB’s main lending rate. Sarkozy’s reaction: “an excellent decision, adapted to the economic situation” (in Le Figaro, 8 October 2008). 12 October: Eurogroup reunion 15 October: European Council 18 October: Sarkozy and Barroso visit President Bush. General tendency: displays of unity and attempts to restore confidence.

  11. EXAMPLE II, 21 October 2008: “[…] it is not possible for the euro zone to continue without a clearly defined economic government. We cannot continue like this. I want to pay tribute to the action of the ECB, I want to express my conviction that the ECB must be independent, but for the action of the ECB to have its full effect it must be able to discuss with an economic government. That was the spirit of the treaty. The spirit of the treaty is dialogue, democracy and mutual independence. And besides, to my mind the true economic government of the eurogroup is a eurogroup which meets at the level of heads of state and government. And you can imagine my amazement when I asked for this meeting, when I realized that it’s the first time that it takes place. Honestly: we create a currency, we give ourselves a central bank, we have a single monetary policy and we don’t have an economic government worthy of its name […] When the crisis takes on the proportions that we’re seeing, for there to be only finance ministers’ meetings isn’t commensurate with the gravity of the crisis. And when it was necessary to mobilize the sums we mobilized, we had to mobilize not the finance ministers, but the heads of state and government, who alone have the democratic legitimacy to take responsibility for such weighty decisions.”

  12. Conclusion of sequence: ”It is not possible for the euro zone to continue without a clearly defined economic government.” • “[…] it is not possible for the euro zone to continue without a clearly defined economic government. We cannot continue like this. I want to pay tribute to the action of the ECB, I want to express my conviction that the ECB must be independent, but for the action of the ECB to have its full effect it must be able to discuss with an economic government. That was the spirit of the treaty. The spirit of the treaty is dialogue, democracy and mutual independence.” • Underlying point of view conveyed in conclusion: ’It is possible for the euro zone to continue without a clearly defined economic government’

  13. First argument supporting conclusion: p but q • p:’the ECB must be independent’ • p is an argument in favor of the conclusion r. • q: ’for the action of the ECB to have its full effect it must be able to discuss with an economic government’ • q is an argument in favor of the conclusion non-r. • non-r: ’it is not possible for the euro zone to continue without a clearly defined economic government’ (?)

  14. The following argument, in support of p and q: • ”That was the spirit of the treaty. The spirit of the treaty is dialogue, democracy and mutual independence.” • Not an argument reinforcing the claim that efficiency depends on dialogue. • An argumentative turn, from the practical benefits of an economic government to the fundamental principles of the EU.

  15. Comparing the two speeches: • Before the financial meltdown, overt criticism of Trichet and the ECB. • After the meltdown, a general need for unity. • But on 21 October, continued attempts to alter the institutional balance of power. • Opportunity in crisis?

  16. References Adam, J.-M, 1992: Les textes : types et prototypes. Paris : Editions Nathan. Adam, J.-M, 2005: La linguistique textuelle. Introduction à l’analyse textuelle des discours. Paris: Armand Colin. Le Figaro, 2008: Les banques centrals frappent un grand coup (10/8/2008). http://marches.lefigaro.fr/news/communiques.html?OFFSET=97&ID_NEWS=86180874&LANG=fr Challenges, 2007: Quand Sarkozy critique la BCE, Merkel la soutient (9/21/2007). http://www.challenges.fr/actualites/business/20070921.CHA0795/quand_sarkozy_critique_la_bce_merkel_la_soutient.html Durcrot, O, 2004: Argumentation rhétorique et argumentation linguistique. In. L’Argumentation aujourd’hui. Paris: Presses Sorbonne Nouvelle. ECB, 2007: Interview with Die Zeit (7/25/2007). http://www.ecb.int/press/key/date/2007/html/sp070725.en.html Finfacts Ireland, 2007: Sarkozy tells ECB to follow Fed and cut rates; Merkel and Trichet strongly defend the central bank’s independence (9/21/2007). http://www.finfacts.com/irelandbusinessnews/publish/article_1011229.shtml France 24, 2008: ECB keeps rates steady despite banking crisis (10/2/2008). http://www.france24.com/en/20081002-ecb-rates-steady-banking-financial-crisis-trichet International Herald Tribune, 2007: ECB defends its independence as war of words escalates with Paris (7/18/2007). http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/07/18/business/euro.php Lequesne, C., 2008: La France dans la nouvelle Europe: assumer le changement d’échelle. Paris: Presses de Sciences Po. Nølke, H., K. Fløttum & C. Norén. 2004 : La ScaPoLine. La théorie scandinave de la polyphonie linguistique. Paris : Editions Kimé. Smaghi, L.B, 2008: Central Bank Independence in the EU: From Theory to Practice. In. European Law Journal, Vol. 14, No.4. 446-460.

More Related