Worst econ crisis since WWII

European Central Bank (ECB) President Jean-Claude Trichet called for stronger controls of national budgets within the eurozone and said Europe was experiencing dramatic times.

"Without doubt, since September 2008 we are in the worst situation since the Second World War, maybe even the First," Trichet told Germany's Spiegel news magazine.

He said it would be wrong for Greece to leave the common European currency, and called instead for a "quantum leap in the mutual monitoring of economic policy in Europe."

"We need better structures to prevent misconduct," Trichet said, adding, "We need an effective implementation of mutual controls; we need effective sanctions for breaches of the Stability and Growth Pact."

Trichet warned that Greece's debt problems could still affect other eurozone members, adding, "It can happen extremely quickly, sometimes in a few hours."

A 750-billion-euro (934-billion-dollar) rescue package for ailing eurozone economies, agreed in Brussels last week, has failed to reassure the markets. The value of the euro plummeted on Friday to its lowest point since November 2008.

Meanwhile, former German central bank chief Otto Poehl criticized the eurozone bailout package as a "breach of all rules." "It says explicitly in the contract about the EU's method of operation that no state vouches for the debts of another," Poehl told Spiegel. "What we are doing now is precisely that."