‘A dirtier environment’
Among those who were acutely aware of Mr Asmussen’s predicament were his counterparts in the French finance ministry, where the reserved but affable German had provided a welcome breath of pragmatism during occasionally tense crisis talks with far more ideological German counterparts. Bercy even had a nickname for him: “agent double” double agent.
When Mr Schäuble announced Mr Asmussen was the German choice, French officials realised they needed to find a nominee of their own that could work closely with Mr Asmussen, a man they believed would be central to giving Mr Draghi the German cover needed to be more aggressive.
François Baroin, the French finance minister, had weighed nominating Jean-Pierre Landau, the 64-year-old ...
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