Jean-Claude Trichet has been president of the European Central Bank (ECB), which sets interest rates for the entire euro zone, since October 2003.

Born in Lyons, he is of Breton extraction, a fact that he referred to when visiting Ireland last year. During that visit, he gave a speech in honour of TK Whitaker, praising his contribution to the reform and transformation of the Irish economy during the 1960s.

Originally a civil engineer who worked in mines, he graduated from the Institut d'Études Politiques de Paris and from the prestigious École Nationale d'Administration.

After a career in France's finance ministry, he became adviser to the minister for economic affairs and, in 1978, to the then French president, Valery Giscard d'Estaing.

Following several subsequent positions in government and finance, he became director of the treasury in 1987, having in tandem responsibilities with the World Bank and the IMF.

In 1993 he was appointed governor of the Banque de France. In that capacity, he was a member of the Council of the European Monetary Institute from 1994 to 1998 and of the European Central Bank from 1998. He was appointed president of the European Central Bank on October 16th, 2003 for an eight-year term.