Keen to smooth tensions over the euro zone crisis when Hollande and Merkel met this month to mark 50 years of Franco-German reconciliation, French chefs chose to reproduce the famous meal of filet of beef and raspberry macaroons prepared in 1962 for post-war leaders Charles de Gaulle and Konrad Adenauer when they signed their friendship treaty.

MSN: Presidential chefs swap recipes for world diplomacy

Mr Trichet presides over a currency zone more diverse than America's, but without the fiscal stabilisers that help smooth over regional variations.

ECONOMIST: Reluctant party-poopers | The