Transcription of the interview with Michel Camdessus, Director of the French Treasury from 1982 to 1984, Governor of the Banque de France from 1984 to 1987 and Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) from 1987 to 2000, carried out by the Centre Virtuel de la Connaissance sur l’Europe (CVCE) on 6 February 2013 in Paris. The interview was conducted by Renaud Dehousse, Professor and holder of the Jean Monnet Chair in European Union Law and Political Science at Sciences Po Paris and Director of the European Studies Centre, and particularly focuses on the following aspects of Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa’s life: his work at the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Economic and Financial Affairs (1979–1983) and the Palais Royal initiative (2010).