euro

With so many problems facing Eurozone countries, it’s easy to forget about the economy. Unemployment figures released in January 2016 show that unemployment in the 19-country currency bloc has fallen to its lowest rate in more than four years. However, at 10.5% the joblessness rate still represents almost 17 million people unable to find work. That’s almost twice the current unemployment rate of the United States.

Opinion surveys suggest that popular support for the Single Currency has recovered slightly, after dipping 12% during the darkest days of the Eurozone crisis (2008-2013). However, there is a risk that “kicking the can down the road” could become the official sport of European politicians; many of the underlying issues that provoked the crisis are still unresolved.

Want to learn more about the history of the Single Currency and its possible future? Have a look at our infographic below (click for a larger image):

DE_Future-of-the-Euro

We had a comment from Rui, who strongly supports the ECB’s Quantitative Easing policy. He thinks it was “about time” that strong and decisive action was taken. But how “decisive” has the ECB actually been? Now that Mario Draghi has pledged to do “whatever it takes”, the ECB is committed to QE, and Greece has accepted the latest austerity package, is the Eurozone crisis finally over?

To get a reaction, we spoke to Stefano Micossi, Director General of Italy’s ASSONIME, an association of Italian companies. In a recent edition of our sister publication, Europe’s World, Micossi set out his “three-point plan for Europe’s economic future“. So, how would he respond to Rui’s comment?

micossiThe acute phase of the crisis is over, but there is a lingering malaise in the Eurozone which has not gone away and it’s manifestation is high unemployment and low growth. So we have resolved what was basically a confidence crisis at very high cost, and we have managed to combat instability, but we still live in the Eurozone in a rather uncomfortable area which doesn’t seem to be able to produce sufficient growth to produce full employment.

Next up, we had a comment sent in from Max, who believes that the EU cannot keep its monetary union without a full fiscal and political union. Is he right? Is fiscal union a necessary reform for a sustainable European Union? How would Stefano Micossi react?

micossiI would think that in the long term monetary union does require full fiscal union. But the path to that is likely to be very bumpy. The fundamental reason we have the bumpiness is that there is still a high degree of mistrust among the member states on everyone’s determination to run sound and wise budgetary policies, and some people fear that fiscal union might mean having to bear the burdens of the debts contracted by others. And until we can eliminate this mistrust we will not have fiscal union.

Finally, we had a comment from Corado, who thought that the treaty change needed to implement fiscal union was impossible under unanimity voting. With 28 Member States in the European Union, all with veto powers over, is treaty change possible?

micossiWell, I would say that today the conditions to consider treaty change do not seem to be there, with the only exception that certain changes might in due course be required to reach agreement with the United Kingdom, provided they decide to stay in. This, however, may well happen in steps and not immediately. Maybe the United Kingdom will obtain a protocol to start with, which later on will be incorporated into the treaty. In general, today, you don’t see the convergence of long-term vision among European leaders on a shared future that is the prerequisite for being able to agree on treaty changes.

What is the future of the Euro? Is fiscal union a necessary reform for a sustainable Eurozone? Is treaty change even possible? Let us know your thoughts and comments in the form below, and we’ll take them to policymakers and experts for their reactiojns!

IMAGE CREDITS: CC / Flickr – Dennis Skley
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The European Commission support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents which reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsi­ble for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

 



72 comments Post a commentcomment

What do YOU think?

  1. avatar
    Bastian

    The Euro in its present composition of countries is not sustainable. It weakens the economies of the EU, the rich AND the poor in the medium and long run.

    For example, it takes the “whip of increasing productivity” from the German industry (in contrast to the previous Deutschmark).
    The Euro (and massimmigration) makes Germany gradually sliding into a tendentially low income country and not anymore a country of cutting-edge technologies.
    In whose interest is this?

  2. avatar
    hans van veen

    The Euro was the face for the ideas of the EU politicians.
    With the American situation in mind the politicians thought, to reconstruct the EG into a US of EU.
    But the politicians forgot that You cannot squeeze so many different unique cultures into one box.
    Even when You force these cultures to use the same currency.
    It simply doesn`t work.
    With the heavy social and economical damage caused by the Euro and the refusal to adjust the monetair strategy, by the ECB, the costs to revive the European economy to acceptable level, will take another 20-25 years.
    In other words, we`re not only facing a lost generation, loosing the unique European thoughts of working together, but the politicians of the mainstream EU parties who refuse to adjust the European course, will cause also the loss of faith for the European future together .

    • avatar
      George Yiannitsiotis

      …will cause also the loss of faith for the European future together.

      Too late: they have already caused the loss of faith for the EU future, at least in crushed democracies like Greece…

    • avatar
      johan

      Yes you can squeeze different cultures into one box and you will end up with features of specific cultures that do not work destroyed like they should be (Greeks should pay taxes, bye, bye ‘culture’ of doing not so).

      Southern European nations are mostly in a bad state economically because they only produce low end stuff and face hard competition from emerging economies on that (china for instance destroyed Italy’s textile industry) or they have laws that make their companies uncompetitive (France).

      Blaming the euro for everything is widely irrational and only serves American interest (and maybe English spite, which is also stupid because they seem to confuse their own interests with those of the USA) because it is the only currency that threatens the dollar as a world reserve currency.

  3. avatar
    Alberto

    Regardless of currency, bad economic policy simply doesn’t work. It’s too easy to blame “the Euro” for what is actually the result of years of over spending and short sighted policy-making (legitimized by an equally short-sighted electorate). Member States have not even been able to observe the perfectly sound (and equally clear and attainable) economic and fiscal standards they had unanimously agreed upon in the SGP.

    There is no amount of fiscal union that would solve the underlying problem of poor economic policy, while reverting to local currencies will at best mask that problem for a short while longer. Meanwhile, the Euro is one of the few genuine achievements for European citizens who have plenty to gain from a common currency, so we should not even be thinking of dismantling it. Rather, we should be thinking of the ckecks and balances we need to improve fiscal and economic policy-making throughout Europe.

    • avatar
      Paul X

      Of course the Euro is at fault. You blame economic policy and yes it is the economic policy of the Euro that is to blame. The countries of Europe have very diverse ways of doing business and in the past each could manage it’s economy in the best interest of itself and its people. The Euro tries to make everyone do business the German way and basically that will never work. Never in a million years will southern European countries adopt the same attitude to business as the North and the more you try and force them by blackmail, threats, fines etc the more they feel their national identity is under threat and the more they will rebel against it. The Euro was not about financial best practice but an attempt at social engineering

  4. avatar
    Eugenia Serban

    Nothing.
    Euro is doomed due to the flood of muslim invasion. UE is over.
    Too bad…Bruxelles guys, poorly played.

    • avatar
      A

      Says someone from Romania…the irony!!

  5. avatar
    Rui Duarte

    Recurring crisis, and an end similar to the USSR: one day, someone will wake up and realize the euro no longer exists.. .. and it won’t necessarily be a catastrophe…

  6. avatar
    Joey Stack

    Well it’s already in complete and utter oblivion and ruin, and will only become further so. Thankfully we Brits had the common sense to keep out.

  7. avatar
    Andrej Němec

    Is it only Greeks and Portuguese commenting? Clearly they have a negative vision of the euro but there are also other Countries that despite the euro are doing well. The euro is there to stay, so the Greek debt. Better to start realising the truth and start working harder to repay the debt.

    • avatar
      George Yiannitsiotis

      Obviously you live either in Germany (the unique country that profits from the euro) or in a non-eurozone EU member-state.

  8. avatar
    Benjamin Jose Rekarte Aranguren

    El €uro es ya la moneda de muchos Europeos y con el tiempo lo sera de toda Europa. A pesar de los euroescepticos,el €uro nacio hace 18 años para quedarse y así va a seguir siendolo. Viva Europa y larga vida al €uro.

  9. avatar
    Saulius Žalnora

    This so called eu managed by corrupted crowd of bureaucrats…it’s obvious that parazites destroying the idea itself…

  10. avatar
    klassen

    The euro was a currency voted down by the people of europe as was the eu constitution.
    How many times do you have to tell an europhile to stop making us take the pill that is making us ill..
    Enough is enough, scrap the euro, bring back democracy and transparency. No more backroom deals, lobbyists with bags of cash, and stop the corporate/bankster coup in europe. Scrap the ecb, and hold them accountable for what theve done to the people of europe, not the current status (untouchable)
    The euro is nothing more than debt and trouble.. It needs to be abolished.

  11. avatar
    Matt Freeman

    It was always doubtful that a single currency could work with countries as diverse as Germany and Greece in the eurozone and so it proved. Greece desperately needed to devalue its currency but couldn’t of course.

    So I think, like Schengen, it was fine when the sun was shining but seems unfit for purpose when the storm comes – and I’m very grateful the UK never adopted it. If we stay in the EU, however, I suspect a single currency is unavoidable in the medium term.

    • avatar
      johan

      Greece needs a debt haircut and subsequently be left alone to follow any policy they want and if then some creditor again gives the country a loan they cannot serve…then that is the fault of that creditor and they should say bye, bye to their money.

      All of the above has nothing to do with the euro. Greece was bailed out because it could not repay foreign banks (among with were German banks). To protect their own banks the European countries gave loans to Greece and by this created a stranglehold.

      Please blank international finance. Especially Goldman Sachs.

  12. avatar
    Mike Oxlittle

    The fact is the Euro was only ever a political project,economically it never made any sense.The only way this currency union can survive is if the handful of rich and successful nations in it,by which I mean Germany and the northern countries,cancel all the debts of the poor southern and eastern countries.They must also have to face the up to the fact they may have to pay the debts of the poor nations quite possibly forever.That is of course if you want to keep the current nineteen countries in it.

  13. avatar
    Paolo Viti

    It’s simple: the EURO together with the European Community will simply drop dead!

  14. avatar
    Enric Mestres Girbal

    The € has ruined the economy of honest europeans, no matter wich country. Has been the road to corruption and is partly culpit of the european misery. Unfortunatly, now, it would be very difficult to go bach to our old currency. Lets hope Britain can stay away from it.

  15. avatar
    Sebastien Chopin

    Well its quite simple… individually each european country is a lonesome dead man walking…. furthermore, without europe or the euro, local/national politicians will only have themselves left to blame for absolutely everything… and they’ll be hit so hard that at the end of the day they’ll probably prefer to go back and have europe to blame for everything… so unless we just completely change the various forms of governance across the continent we will continue stagnating.. I propose we use internet forums to debate everything… and a system of quotas on each individual vote so everyone can participate… we could have ten unalterable pillars around which to gravitate and we could end up doing the same thing we’re doing now stagnate… but with no useless representation to pay for and nobody to blame but ourselves :-P

    • avatar
      George Yiannitsiotis

      Nice proposal for direct democracy. However, only a third of the population can take part in such procedures due to ICT illiteracy and lack of access.

  16. avatar
    Margarita G. Soto

    Falta mas unión política para que la moneda comun prospere. Entiendo que la union politica es imprescindible y complementaria.

  17. avatar
    Nikos Themelis

    I hope the euro ends really soon. It has brought only misery,inequality,division,unemployment.

  18. avatar
    Marco

    I think we are going to the crash of single currency, as several facts demonstrate.EU is made by agents who have not shared interest, and economies are often in contrast.Italy and Germany, for example, live a competition in terms of factories and development, but they do not start from the same line because of the Euro, that gives advantages to Germany.this is not a piece of news in my opinion, MEADE and KALDOR told it many and many years ago! Finally, Euro is going to fail because it is a non-sense.

  19. avatar
    Franck Néo Legon

    euro should be emited by central banks only, as a monopoly, and not created by the private banks on the fractionary reserves system that is the root of all evil in EU.

  20. avatar
    Luigina Perriello

    A noi piace l’ euro. Avete 300 mila volte il PIL planetario. Toccate l’ euro e questa è la cifra.

  21. avatar
    Marijo Baricic

    Siamo mesi male, a Bruxelles ci sono più ladri che a Roma! Rivoglio la Lira e la sovranità monetaria!

  22. avatar
    EU reform- proactive

    The chickens coming home to roost- like CDU- Merkel’s “welcome all” refugee policy- endangering all of Europe!

    The Euro is a flawed, complex & political currency! Speculators love it & bet against it- most folks hate it by now! Many specialists predict it’s doomed anyway!

    Quote: “The Euro area credit institutions can receive central bank credit not only through monetary policy operations but exceptionally also through emergency liquidity assistance (ELA). Assets that are pledged to the Euro-system as security for its central bank credit operations are called “collateral”.

    Ask Greeks what Greece had to hand over as “collateral” for their (ongoing) bailouts? Nearly everything- except the Acropolis and everyone’s underpants!

    Some experts propose “two Euros”:
    http://www.voxeu.org/article/why-europe-needs-two-euros-not-one

    To end the Euro zone’s suffering- why not float everyone’s “weak Euro” against one official “international Euro”- (basket of the strongest 3-4 Euro zone economies)- or only against Germany? Every Euro zone country does print its own Euro anyway (in a controlled way). It may save a total collapse- before everyone is forced to go back to their historical currencies- again.

    All different Euros in the E-zone have a letter designated on its serial number to identify its origin. Could the “clever EU politicians” work out a different system?

    http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/news/article-1693427/How-to-find-out-where-a-euro-note-is-from.html

    • avatar
      George Yiannitsiotis

      Better an orderly dissolution of the eurozone than this proposal.

    • avatar
      EU reform- proactive

      George, a total orderly EU dissolution? Preferable yes. By EC consent? Most unlikely, but if- how & when? Maybe triggered an by “evolutionary (co)incident”? Or has Greece a secrete plan “B”? Greek finances are under the control of the “troika”.

      According to reports your DFM Dimitris Mardas denied that Greece ever discussed to exit the Euro (back to Drachma?) True or false? Options- or cornered? “Entitlement based” % debt relief? Agreed by whom- being a known “un-rehabilitated” defaulter? Rehabilitation is a long & tough process.

    • avatar
      George Yiannitsiotis

      @EU Reform-Proactive
      1. Taking into account that the euro is to the benefit of Germany (everybody else loses to a lesser or bigger extent), the orderly dissolution is better than watching the EMU falling apart. Alternative: Germany to quit the euro.
      2. The EU was founded on three pillars (tall stories): Democracy, welfare and security. None of them applies anymore in Greece since May 2010.
      3. No matter how Greece (and the rest peripheral eurozone states) deal with public finances, the result is to their detriment due to structural deficiencies of the euro.
      Considering all the above, give me a political reason for not seeking a plan-B (that should have been drawn back in 2002) to save our society from total collapse and enslavement.

      PS Who is this DFM Dimitris Mardas?

    • avatar
      EU reform- proactive

      Hi George,

      Mr. Dimitris Mardas was your Deputy Finance Minister until Sept 15- incumbent Yannis Dragasakis. ref: Plan “B”:

      http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jul/26/greece-yanis-varoufakis-secret-plan-raid-banks-drachma-return

      The principle of global free trade & “comparative advantage” (for ALL) however entrenches past advantages- thought to be compensated from the EU’s “charity account”- benefiting all weaker EU economies as incentive to catch up.

      I’m waiting for the ultimate proposal (maybe a flexible internal Euro) from the “experts”- not politicians. My reservations about the EU/Euro concept & for a complete restructuring are on record. A sensible think tank: http://www.cer.org.uk/

      Lamenting is no solution- action is!

    • avatar
      George Yiannitsiotis

      @EU Reform- Proactive:
      1. Slaves lament; Seniors fight!
      2. The question of liberation is a difficult one, given the facts
      3. Fighting the international financial beast is not a “national” question
      4. The solution is either to get rid of Germany from the euro or to go back to national currencies simultaneously. Any other development, leads (sooner or later) to catastrophy for all EU member-states
      5. Except Yanis Varoufakis, all ministers in Greece’s governments since May 2010, were puppets in the hands of the troica. Therefore, do not be surprised if a citizen of the Hellenic Republic does not “remember” them!

    • avatar
      EU reform- proactive

      George, seems unsolvable than. What was behind Tsipras’s surprise U-turn after election? Was it a continuation of the legendary betrayal of Jason and Medea, the modern tool of “political diplomacy” & bribery, or the sweet kisses by JC Juncker?

    • avatar
      George Yiannitsiotis

      1. Tsipras was forced to capitulate because he had not prepared a strong, solid internal front and a state mechanism capable of undergoing the ECB/EU/IMF/German bullying
      2. Varoufakis, though right in his argument on handling the eurozone debt crisis, resigned in alignment to his ethical code and the result of the referendum (the once verbotten by gauleiter Merkel – Nov.2011)
      3. Puppets like JCJ do not matter in international politics. The economic power is Germany and dictates its will to the rest of the eurozone member-states, thus projecting its internal economic order to economies fundamentally diverse from its own. The fact that Germany cut off a 5bn USD loan opportunity from China at the critical moment, signaled the end of Hellenic FREEDOM and DEMOCRACY. Who is next? Portugal, Spain, France, Italy and the rest weak periferal EU member-states.

    • avatar
      EU reform- proactive

      ………….but many expected from Tsipras to have & show more grit & ethics- good luck than to get all your “Greek ducks” in a row!

    • avatar
      George Yiannitsiotis

      Good luck to the German-led “EU” (or the ashes of the dream for a “United Europe”).

      PS1 Please, do NOT confuse EUROPE (expressed by the European Convention on Human Rights and the Council of Europe) with this bunch of usurers (the ECB/ECommission/IMF/4th Reich gang) disguised as “European Union”.
      PS2 Time for the 4th Reich to pay the debts of the 3rd one:
      a) 17.1bn USD to Greece (WW II Reparations according to the UN estimate – 1947 in 1938 prices + interest)
      b) the loans extracted from the Bank of Greece in 1942-3 (known as “occupation loans” than Hitler started paying back in Jan 1944) – 11bn USD (2010 calculation + interest)
      c) Compensation to the victims of German occupation army attrocities committed against civilians and their property in Greece (28mn euros is the pilot case of Distomo and there are at least 374 other villages and towns awaiting JUSTICE!)
      c) compensatio

    • avatar
      EU reform- proactive

      George, despite all EU, Euro zone, Euro or European shortcomings & valid critiques- to keep beating a dead horse is fruitless!

    • avatar
      George Yiannitsiotis

      Dead horse? Who is a dead horse?

  23. avatar
    Eilrahc Siusej

    BCE Money creation is the core of the corrupted UE.
    Money loaned to member states at Interest via the Banking System instead of loaned at no interest from their individual central bank…

  24. avatar
    nando

    IF the Euro continues being a tool for the multinationals, politicians and their money games, then the Euro will continue to weaken most countries, we will have, as it has been said before, a meltdown, and countries will revert to national currencies.
    IF the Euro becomes a tool for every country, a landmark global currency, a reference, then it has a good chance of succeeding. But I doubt the multinationals and their surrogate politicians would be interested in the latter. In which case we are back to the meltdown. Sad to say.

  25. avatar
    Nando Aidos

    IF the Euro continues being a tool for the multinationals, politicians and their money games, then the Euro will continue to weaken most countries, we will have, as it has been said before, a meltdown, and countries will revert to national currencies.
    IF the Euro becomes a tool for every country, a landmark global currency, a reference, then it has a good chance of succeeding. But I doubt the multinationals and their surrogate politicians would be interested in the latter. In which case we are back to the meltdown. Sad to say.

    • avatar
      George Yiannitsiotis

      Schengen has been over de facto in the Greek-FYRoM border as well as the Slovenian-Croatian, Hungarian-Croatian, Hungarian-Serbian & Hungarian-Romanian ones; as well as in the resurection of border controls between Italy-France-Belgium and “the outside world”, forming a “new EU order”: the central empire (Germany and satelite states esp. Austria, Slovenia and the Netherlands) vs the fragmented old EEC (France, Italy, Belgium, Luxemburg, the UK, Denmark, Ireland, Greece, Spain & Portugal) and newly founded groups (Visegrad, Baltic & Scandinavian states). Cyprus and Malta are not considered having any leverage.

      The question is when the Emperor (the 4th Reich) will reveal its secret plan to dominate on a smaller “EU” via the euro-mark. The “euro” (a clear projection of German monetary order to the rest of the EU) has served as the vehicle for German domination over Europe. MNCs (mainly German ones) benefited the most to the expense of the peoples of the EU periphery at first, with the collaboration of the peoples of the core-EU countries (hailing against the PIIGS!)

  26. avatar
    Derek

    Politics trumps economics science maths and finance. Virtually every economist knew the EZ could not work because It is composed of separate nations, whose residents speak different languages, have different customs, and have far greater loyalty and attachment to their own country than to the common market or to the idea of “Europe”.
    A transfer union will not save it because of these differences. Germany is comptroller of the EU and will not allow a transfer union because it knows the money will be wasted. Hence the never-ending austerity. The EZ could linger for years but another world banking crisis (banking has not been fixed in the slightest) would break it. If the Fed increased interest rates significantly world interest rates would follow, making EZ survival very difficult or impossible.
    Another slower mechanism is the EU losing share of global GDP against a background of having 50% of world social costs. Benefits tourism spreads these costs around the EU but leads to ever climbing debt as is happening in the UK and several other countries.
    Whichever way you look at it the EU is in serious trouble.

    • avatar
      George Yiannitsiotis

      The UK and other peripheral EU countries are losing from the euro. However, the Emperor (Germany) is the only country that BENEFITS from the euro.

  27. avatar
    Jake

    Euro has been the most stupid idea in human history.
    Much worse than the Soviet Union.

  28. avatar
    Chris Jones

    When a country loses its ability to print new currency , it becomes a user of wealth ,not a creator of it . The ecb now controls all the economic routes for all euro member states . And we now are in the situation where some of the limbs of the body are gangrenous and the surgeon cannot amputate them. Roll on Brexit !!

  29. avatar
    John

    Euro is an invention of the Americans and Brits to destroy Europe , the arrogant, the Germans saw an opportunity to get rid of the Mediterranean countries competiveness, ignorant Brussels based European politicians did the rest. The same way ignorance and religion was manipulated to create the extremists and destroy countries.

  30. avatar
    John

    In the best case the idea of stupid manipulated idealists with no idea of what the real world is….in reality, Germans, slaves of America, after losing two world wars who thought would be smart….they will see the real negative impact only after 2025

  31. avatar
    Ed berns

    Why did the Roman Empire collapse? Because it was no longer Roman. They had lost all sense of identity and no longer believed in themselves or what they stood for and that’s the future of western Europe . It’s not a matter of racism. It’s also a matter of sustainability. An island this small cannot hold 70+ million population which we’ve probably reached in all honesty but won’t admit to. By all means let in professional people but no limits for people with no homework job lined up is suicide slow but certain suicide

    • avatar
      Magalaan

      @ Ed Berns
      Many people know the one reason the Roman Empire collapsed but they all come with a different reason.

      But you can also look at it this way: The Roman empire was hugely successful and it did not end in fifth century like people believe. In fact most people in the 15th century in Europe still believed they they lived in the Roman empire. What changed that idea is not the downfall of the Roman Empire but the rise of the Spanish Empire, Portuguese Empire, French Empire, Russian Empire, British Empire, Dutch Empire, all based on the foundations of the Roman empire.

      In fact, one might well say the Roman Empire still lives today and the EU is a continuation of it. We still share by en large the same European laws, culture, political, economical, religious systems. Yes they evolved, but here we are again united. And do not live in dreams, the Roman Empire was continuously battling to stay united as well. Nothing changed in that respect. And Germany in power? Germany had controlled the Roman Empire most of the time politically since Charlemagne together with the church in Rome. Nothing new there either.

      What is new is that we now have to compete with the American and Chinese empires. We have to Unite or fail.

  32. avatar
    Fernando Magalhaes

    Some people say things changed in UE in last months.

    Nothing changed. The word Federation was always a forbidden word in Europe. The Euro indirectly pushed for that kind of governance and Europeans are fighting back (nationalism).

    Lets stay on the path that always worked. Co-operation. No Member State can be forced to do something it doesnt want to.

    The Euro was a bad ideia. We can of course keep a political/economic co-operation, having several Euros. The French Euro. The German Euro. The Finnish Euro.
    The same way there is a US DOllar, a Canadian DOllar, and Australian Dollar..

    The currencies could be link most of the time, but allow necessaries movements when ever necessary (like Swiss did).

  33. avatar
    Iain Crawford

    See http://www.terror-rhythm.blogspot.com the EU overreached itself during the euro crisis, just as USSR did in 1962. Brexit is the EU equivalent of the Prague spring 1968.
    Expect collapse of EU in about 23 years time

  34. avatar
    Magalaan

    People who object to the Euro should also give a better alternative. Even if the Greeks hate the Euro, would they really want to trade it in for a rapidly inflating currency that would evaporate pensions and savings? I am sure the Greek of all people in that situation will prefer to keep their savings in Euros and reject their own currency.

    Some of the problems with Euro are real, but counties like Greece and Italy can not blame Germany for their own long standing corruption. The Euro really gives countries only one option: improve you economy to standards of highly developed countries. Countries like Ireland and Spain that did that with big help of the EC benefited massively. The ones that stayed behind only saw prices rise, their competitiveness fall. In todays world economy and international trade you can no longer stay behind. You either isolate yourself and satisfy with a very low level of prosperity, or you compete with the rest. If you want to do the first you have to leave the EU as well to stop free trade that will kill you.

    It is not the EU that is creating this harsh environment, but it rather tries to protect countries from it, by building a collective wall around an internal market where through subsidies a milder climate is created. If countries are stupid enough to step out of that, they will soon find out life outside of the walls is much harder.

    Britain can do that as it is a strong country and has a unique position in the Common Wealth, but the poor countries would find life without protection very harsh. Outside of the walls they can sell their products cheaper but they will be confronted with import duties and trade barriers. Basic costs of living would go down, but forget about any luxury goods.

    The challenge is to make the system work for all, and yes the Northern European countries should help the Southern European countries, but you can not ask them to finance corruption like we have seen in Greece. If they can bring down corruption to reasonable levels then it is only in the interest of the rest to help keep their economies and finances healthy as well. But it is corrupt politicians that like to blame the EU for the results of there own failed policies.

    We should not be stupid. It is the USA that sees the EC as a mayor contender and is actively sabotaging it. After all the EC has a bigger economy than the US and could dominate them if they ever get their act together. That is why they are creating this discord. It was American rating firms that brought down Greece after American banks first indebted Greece with help of corrupt officials. It is the US that is creating this conflict with Russia to keep Europe and Russia apart. Lets not be stupid and play into their games. Unity makes power. Together we stand much stronger!

  35. avatar
    Prof: David Younge

    As an expert report writer on the EU, I have said all along the EURO is a control currency it was designed to take away a country’s sovereignty and bind that country to the “GERMAN SUPER STATE ” called the EU.
    Only left wing political party’s like the EURO and being told what to do by Germany, as the UK thanks to BREXIT has shown the way, as we have done many time in trying to stop Germany wanting to control the whole of EUROPE look at both WW its now up to centre RIGHT political Party’s to say enough is enough and take back full control, by reverting to their old currencies.
    FRANCE, ITALY want this so now is the time, to pull out of the EURO its FINISHED !! so most reports confirm from the USA, and President Trump has shown the way!!.

  36. avatar
    Roger Brunnell

    One man and one man only has told the world the truth about the EU the German Superstate and that’s Prof: David Younge, all his reports for the Daily Mail and the Daily Express, along with reports in this debate are 100% correct.
    We should take notice of what he has to say on the EU Trap!! and the EURO. we require his reporting, and wonder why the BBC has not had him on a TV talk show! could it be that as he is an honest expert , he would show up the BBC for what it is a left wing EU Puppet. Come Prof Younge write more honest reports, we need them.

  37. avatar
    Masturchyf

    Once the Euro fails in amillion years i’ll just change to the Ugandan Shilling.

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