„The UK’s George Osborne deserves the highest credit for two policies. First, he stuck to gradual and long-term fiscal tightening. Second, he started reforming the banking system. Sweden’s Anders Borg implemented perfect domestic policies. He was the first finance minister to call for large-scale bank recapitalisation.
Germany’s Wolfgang Schäuble also received high marks. After a bitter fight with France and the European Central Bank, he forced restructuring of Greek debt, and placed sovereign debt restructuring at the centre of the euro debate.
The worst minister was Hungary’s Gyorgy Matolcsy. From a financial point of view, the populist »default« on Hungarian households’ foreign exchange debt was dreadful. Italy’s Giulio Tremonti deserved the second-worst grading. He failed to restore a credible fiscal policy path, was unable to pass the necessary structural changes and did not attempt to reduce tax evasion.
France’s François Baroin punched below the country’s weight. He did not foresee the need for French banks’ recapitalisation and has been much too slow in acknowledging the country’s credit rating deterioration. He failed to propose a credible solution of the euro crisis. He looks more like Raymond Domenech, manager of the disastrous French football team in the 2010 World Cup.”