Yet leaving the bank in Mr Duisenberg's hands hardly looks likely to boost its credibility.
Besides, the row over Mr Duisenberg does reflect very different attitudes to the single currency.
Germany's candidate, Mr Duisenberg, will run the new bank during its crucial opening years.
Mr Duisenberg is still expected to stick to his bargain and quit next year.
If correct, Mr Trichet is the best bargain in Europe and must yearn for Mr Duisenberg's job.
ECONOMIST: For sale: central banker, low mileage, high running-costs
Last year, though, Mr Duisenberg announced he would go early, on his 68th birthday in July this year.
The verdict will not be delivered until June 18th, a month before Mr Duisenberg is due to go.
As Mr Duisenberg and his colleagues know only too well, though, what goes up can always come down.
Having made his own job harder, should Mr Duisenberg be deprived of it?
If that were to happen during Mr Duisenberg's years, he might seem a lame duck, with little public support.
Mr Duisenberg said central banks would continue to monitor the euro closely and would "cooperate on exchange markets as appropriate".
Its members are the ECB president, Wim Duisenberg, and five political appointees who are all bankers or stock market professionals.
But ECB president Wim Duisenberg hinted that the bank's view on inflation could also have played a part in the decision.
Not surprisingly, wage moderation is a virtue that Mr Duisenberg preaches frequently.
The ECB president, Wim Duisenberg, is due to step down in July.
But after the fuss France made to ensure he will succeed Wim Duisenberg at the European Central Bank, that is hard to imagine.
That is why, unless Mr Duisenberg is genuinely unconcerned by the euro's slide, it is hard to understand why he chose to speak out.
Its public relations have been disastrous, with Mr Duisenberg coming in for particular criticism for being too talkative at the bank's regular press conferences.
Mr Duisenberg conceded that his previous denials had been a mistake.
Mr Duisenberg quickly acquired an unwelcome, but deserved, reputation for shooting from the hip, with public comments from him confusing and sometimes destabilising the financial markets.
Besides, despite their hamstringing of Mr Duisenberg, the French still argue, with some merit, that the Germans will have the upper hand over the single currency.
In a recent newspaper interview Wim Duisenberg, the president of the European Central Bank, reminded the British of the rules governing membership of the single currency.
But Mr Duisenberg's remarks, the latest in a series of statements in favour of leaving rates unchanged, are unlikely to diminish pressure for a cut on Thursday.
Remarks by European Central Bank president, Wim Duisenberg, that foreign exchange intervention was a possibility, and that European growth remained robust failed to provide a strong boost.
Unkind critics note that Mr Duisenberg's previous experience of running monetary policy, as head of the Dutch central bank, was to take orders from the German Bundesbank.
European Central Bank (ECB) President Wim Duisenberg attempted to send out a strong signal that interest rates will not be cut at the bank's next meeting on Thursday.
On Tuesday, the EU finance ministers agreed that Mr Duisenberg will step down on November 1st and be succeeded by Jean-Claude Trichet, the governor of the Bank of France.
The ECB has done its bit to boost Europe's economic growth by cutting interest rates to their lowest in half a century, said Mr Duisenberg, so it cannot be blamed.
Mr Duisenberg's warnings seem unfair to his own achievements.
In an address to the European Parliament, Mr Duisenberg said the bank had no reason to change its view that its current benchmark interest rate - currently at 4.5% - was appropriate.
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