The European Central Bank is about to raise its interest rate for the first time in two and a half years. Does this move make any sense? To discover the answer, I attended what turned out to be a surprisingly lively debate between a continental conservative and an anglophone critic. This, then, is what they said.

Critic: Those whom the gods wish to destroy, they first make mad! At the very first signs of life in the eurozone, the ECB raises interest rates. A quarter-point rise is not much. A short-term rate of 2.25 per cent would also be very low by past standards. Yet, despite the consoling words of Jean-Claude Trichet, the ECB president, this week, no one knows how much further rates are going to rise. The ECB’s decision will inject uncertainty into the minds of business people. That is the last thing the fragile eurozone needs.