In this interview, Alexandre Lamfalussy, General Manager of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) from 1985 to 1993 and President of the European Monetary Institute (EMI) from 1994 to 1997, discusses the monetary policy of the European Central Bank (ECB) and the criticism levelled at its anti-inflation measures.

In this interview, Alexandre Lamfalussy, General Manager of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) from 1985 to 1993 and President of the European Monetary Institute (EMI) from 1994 to 1997, describes the ‘Lamfalussy process’, a system based on a series of recommendations concerning the regulation of European securities markets made by a Committee of Wise Men, chaired by Alexandre Lamfalussy, and adopted by the Maastricht European Council in 2001. He also draws lessons from the economic and financial crisis that began in 2007.

On 15 February 1996, Baron Alexandre Lamfalussy, President of the European Monetary Institute (EMI) in Frankfurt, delivers an address to the Paris Institute of Banking and Financial Studies in which he outlines, in particular, the role of the EMI in the preparations for the establishment of the future European Central Bank (ECB) and in the introduction of the single European currency.

In this interview, Alexandre Lamfalussy, Economic Adviser and Head of the Monetary and Economic Department of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) from 1976 to 1985 and General Manager of the BIS from 1985 to 1993, explains how the dominant Keynesian economic policy gradually gave way to a monetarist policy during the 1970s and up to the mid-1980s, and describes how this change in paradigm was perceived within the BIS.

In this interview, Alexandre Lamfalussy, General Manager of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) from 1985 to 1993 and President of the European Monetary Institute (EMI) from 1994 to 1997, describes the nature of the contact made with employers in the private sector during the work of the ‘Delors Committee’ in 1988 and in connection with the establishment of Economic and Monetary Union.

In this interview, Alexandre Lamfalussy, General Manager of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) from 1985 to 1993 and President of the European Monetary Institute (EMI) from 1994 to 1997, describes the aims, the establishment and the working methods of the EMI.

In this interview, Alexandre Lamfalussy, General Manager of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) from 1985 to 1993 and President of the European Monetary Institute (EMI) from 1994 to 1997, explains the role that he played as a member of the ‘Delors Committee’, which was tasked in 1988 with studying and proposing concrete stages for the progressive realisation of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). He particularly focuses on the attitude of the various members of the ‘Delors Committee’ with regard to the chances of success for EMU, and describes the circumstances surrounding his appointment as President of the European Monetary Institute (EMI).

In this interview excerpt, Bernard Snoy et d’Oppuers, Economic Adviser in the Directorate-General for Economic and Financial Affairs at the Commission of the European Communities from 1986 to 1988 and Head of the Private Office of Belgian Finance Minister Philippe Maystadt from 1988 to 1991, describes the personality of Alexandre Lamfalussy, General Manager of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) from 1985 to 1993 and first President of the European Monetary Institute (EMI) from 1994 to 1997.

In this interview, Alexandre Lamfalussy, Economic Adviser and Head of the Monetary and Economic Department of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) from 1976 to 1985 and General Manager of the BIS from 1985 to 1993, discusses the central role played by the BIS with regard to the Committee of Governors of the Central Banks of the Member States of the European Economic Community (EEC), set up in 1964. He also describes how the ‘Delors Committee’, established in 1988 to study and propose concrete stages for the progressive realisation of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU), organised its work. Alexandre Lamfalussy goes on to emphasise how this experience enabled him to set up the structures of the European Monetary Institute, created in Frankfurt on 1 January 1994, relatively quickly.

In this interview excerpt, Philippe Maystadt, Belgian Finance Minister from 1988 to 1995 and Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance and External Trade from 1995 to 1998, describes the personality of Alexandre Lamfalussy, General Manager of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) from 1985 to 1993 and President of the European Monetary Institute (EMI) from 1994 to 1997.