Mr Wim Duisenberg is the first president of the European Central Bank, the institution set up in 1998 to oversee the single currency euro zone.

A former Dutch finance minister and president of the Dutch central bank, he was appointed to oversee the introduction of the euro and to establish it and the bank as credible forces within European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU).

He is chairman of the bank's governing council, which sets rates for the 11 member-states of EMU - Ireland, Germany, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Luxembourg, Austria and Finland.