Trichet gets green light for ECB

Jean-Claude Trichet, the proposed successor to Wim Duisenberg as Head of the European Central Bank, was cleared by a Paris court on 18 June 2003 of all responsibility in the collapse of Crédit Lyonnais. The French President, Jacques Chirac, has long held an ambition for a Frenchman to head the ECB and is due to propose Mr Trichet as France's candidate at the European Council in Thessaloniki, 19-20 June 2003.