On June 29, the Fixed Income Markets teams invited 200 clients to a conference at the musée du quai Branly in Paris for a talk by Christian de Boissieu, Chairman of the French Council of Economic Advisors (Conseil d’Analyse Economique - CAE) and Professor at University of Paris I (Panthéon Sorbonne). This conference was followed by a cocktail and a tour of the exhibit "Other Masters of India – Contemporary Creations of the Adivasis". As part of the partnership between Crédit Agricole CIB and the museum, the exhibit was occasionally privatised for this client evening.

At the conference, Christian de Boissieu answered the question "How to get Europe moving?" (Which reforms to stimulate more growth?).

At first, he returned to the decline of the euro over the past six months by explaining that "this decline is not negative, since it improves the competitiveness of companies in the euro zone". He added that "the currency’s decline does not rekindle the danger of rising inflation, since cost and pricing pressures are currently very low." Today, the greatest risk in Europe is not inflation but rising unemployment.

In presenting the European crisis since December 2009, he stressed "Europe’s pragmatism has been noteworthy in this crisis with the establishment of the recovery plan in conjunction with the IMF (respectively two thirds and one third). In 2008, after the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers, this same pragmatism led to the establishment of a recovery plan for banks."

He considers that to overcome this crisis, Europe needs to reduce its budget deficit and public-sector debt without disrupting growth. These two objectives are compatible. He then returned on the worldwide growth figures, indicating that Europe economic growth is +1% in 2010, and so lower than that of the United States (+3%) and some emerging market countries such as China (+10%) and India (+9%). "If no further actions were taken over the long term, European growth would fall short of 1.5%", he says, "greater emphasis is therefore needed in so-called structural areas such as developing public/private co-financing, focusing on innovative financing, developing research and development, more attention to higher education, etc."

Christian de Boissieu concluded by "Europe must help itself and not be relegated to the second tier." He thinks that Europe will in all likelihood awaken and rebound, provided it uses enough of the necessary resources.