Should Europe’s top banker be comparing the euro to an Australian bird?

You’d think he would have learned from the Great Bumblebee Dustup of July 2012. In a speech in Milan on Thursday, European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi employed a rather odd metaphor in arguing that Europe’s monetary union will outlast the sovereign debt crisis. Invoking euro architect Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa, he likened the euro to the ...

By , a former deputy managing editor at Foreign Policy.
SAM PANTHAKY/AFP/Getty Images
SAM PANTHAKY/AFP/Getty Images
SAM PANTHAKY/AFP/Getty Images

You'd think he would have learned from the Great Bumblebee Dustup of July 2012.

You’d think he would have learned from the Great Bumblebee Dustup of July 2012.

In a speech in Milan on Thursday, European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi employed a rather odd metaphor in arguing that Europe’s monetary union will outlast the sovereign debt crisis. Invoking euro architect Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa, he likened the euro to the emu, an ostrich-like bird native to Australia: 

As you know, in recent months I have repeatedly stressed the irreversibility of the euro. This was precisely the sentiment of one of Tommaso’s most noted quips. Speaking in 2004 about the "EMU," an abbreviation for Economic and Monetary Union, he remarked that it was also the name of an Australian bird rather like an ostrich. And he added: "Neither of them can go backwards."

It’s particularly surprising that Draghi would go down this path considering that back in July, he took a fair amount of heat for comparing the euro to a bumblebee (admittedly, his pledge in the same speech to do "whatever it takes" to save the euro got a bit more attention):

The euro is like a bumblebee. This is a mystery of nature because it shouldn’t fly but instead it does. So the euro was a bumblebee that flew very well for several years. And now — and I think people ask "how come?" — probably there was something in the atmosphere, in the air, that made the bumblebee fly. Now something must have changed in the air, and we know what after the financial crisis. The bumblebee would have to graduate to a real bee. And that’s what it’s doing.

The remarks quickly spawned headlines like "Crash of the Bumblebee" and "Draghi and his magic bee." Worse still, Jonathan Neal, an insect expert at Purdue University, demystified bumblebee flight, noting that the insects fly because of their rapidly beating wings. And he argued that Draghi was unintentionally making a pretty pessimistic prediction about the debt crisis by awaiting the euro’s transformation into a "real bee."

Honey bees and bumblebees are different species. Species don’t magically transform. A better metaphor would be, "If we wait for a bumblebee to magically transform into a honey bee, we will wait a long time. Applying this metaphor to the Euro, "It will be a long run before the Euro magically transforms from a Bumblebee Euro to a "real bee" Euro." As economist John Maynard Keynes quipped, "In the long run we are all dead."

So did Draghi get the comparison right this time? The Australian government does note that the emu and kangaroo are included in the country’s coat of arms because of a "common belief that neither animal can move backwards easily." But even if the science checks out, emus can’t fly, which introduces a whole new element of confusion into the bumblebee metaphor. 

Plus, we learned today that the eurozone has moved backwards — into recession.

Uri Friedman is a former deputy managing editor at Foreign Policy. Twitter: @UriLF

Read More On EU | Europe

More from Foreign Policy

The USS Nimitz and Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force and South Korean Navy warships sail in formation during a joint naval exercise off the South Korean coast.
The USS Nimitz and Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force and South Korean Navy warships sail in formation during a joint naval exercise off the South Korean coast.

America Is a Heartbeat Away From a War It Could Lose

Global war is neither a theoretical contingency nor the fever dream of hawks and militarists.

A protester waves a Palestinian flag in front of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, during a demonstration calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. People sit and walk on the grass lawn in front of the protester and barricades.
A protester waves a Palestinian flag in front of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, during a demonstration calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. People sit and walk on the grass lawn in front of the protester and barricades.

The West’s Incoherent Critique of Israel’s Gaza Strategy

The reality of fighting Hamas in Gaza makes this war terrible one way or another.

Biden dressed in a dark blue suit walks with his head down past a row of alternating U.S. and Israeli flags.
Biden dressed in a dark blue suit walks with his head down past a row of alternating U.S. and Israeli flags.

Biden Owns the Israel-Palestine Conflict Now

In tying Washington to Israel’s war in Gaza, the U.S. president now shares responsibility for the broader conflict’s fate.

U.S. President Joe Biden is seen in profile as he greets Chinese President Xi Jinping with a handshake. Xi, a 70-year-old man in a dark blue suit, smiles as he takes the hand of Biden, an 80-year-old man who also wears a dark blue suit.
U.S. President Joe Biden is seen in profile as he greets Chinese President Xi Jinping with a handshake. Xi, a 70-year-old man in a dark blue suit, smiles as he takes the hand of Biden, an 80-year-old man who also wears a dark blue suit.

Taiwan’s Room to Maneuver Shrinks as Biden and Xi Meet

As the latest crisis in the straits wraps up, Taipei is on the back foot.