The end of the Euro?

[Bereta_Eder]

I admire the straight face greek and finnish politicians keep when shaking his hand then.

[Stefu]

Another facet of the grand conspiracy - Finland and Greece were the first nations to adopt the Euro, thanks to the shared time-zone.

[Gen. Atkinson]

At the moment $1 is worth 53pence and 1EURO is worth 67pence. The Euro is stronger than the USdollar at the moment, and both are weaker than the UK£. This is a good time for us people in the UK to go abroad and spend money(but not tax) in foreign climes. Especially if we go to the States.
Exploitation here we come.

[Bereta_Eder]

We should share a podium as the "first w*nkers*

[chequita guevara]

The Euro will end when Duke Nukem Forever is released.

[Spiffor]

Reminds me of the 1993 crisis when everybody believed we hit the end of the EMS.

[Atahualpa]

Actually there are wishes that the euro loses some of its strength...

I don't really care anymore wether it's strong or weak... it's always good for one part of the economy

[kronic]

I doubt that Italy can grow by 0,6 % this year. After all, their economy shrank by 0,5 % in the last quarter. Germany was doing surprisingly good and grew faster than the US and the UK for the first time in...well...decades.

But how can Portugal have such a large deficit? 6-7 %. Anyway, I don't expect much trouble for the € because of this. The Portuguese economy does not have that much weight.

[Spiffor]

Re: The end of the Euro?

Originally posted by DanS
But how can Germany and France complain when they were first in line to gut the growth and stability pact?

I would have said something very not nice about our glorious leaders' behaviour when they're temporarily out of trouble, but this article doesn't allow me to
The article only metionns rhe German doubts of 1990. It was a time before the Germans sufferend from the pact themselves, back when they thought about nothing but their obsession of a stable currency.

I can see why the UK and some other European countries hesitate to join the Eurozone.

The argument of the foreign deficits is probably a powerful one among political elites in these countries, but I thin the ordinary citizen mostly thinks about the disappearance of a national symbol. And when it comes to monetary policy, foreign deficits are definitely not the only gripe against the Euro (the fanatical devotion of the ECB to price stability, and the complete loss of sovereignty over monetary policy can be spinned just as efficiently)

[Kidlicious]

I think the Euro was a good idea but the ECB does need to losen up a bit.

[Spiffor]

Originally posted by Kidicious
the ECB does need to losen up a bit.

This is quite an understatement

[Dracon II]

Reminds me of the 1993 crisis when everybody believed we hit the end of the EMS

That was because of the ERM, wasn't it?

Is the stronger pound, and hence better purchasing power in Europe, the reason why the UK doesn't adopt the Euro? Or was it a sovereignty thing?

[Kidlicious]

Originally posted by Dracon II
Is the stronger pound, and hence better purchasing power in Europe, the reason why the UK doesn't adopt the Euro? Or was it a sovereignty thing?

I think it depends on who you ask, but the sovereignty issue seems to be the most popular. I think they will try to do without joining the EU as long as they can. As long as the rest of Europe struggles economically there won't be much support to join.

[Spiffor]

Originally posted by Dracon II
Is the stronger pound, and hence better purchasing power in Europe, the reason why the UK doesn't adopt the Euro? Or was it a sovereignty thing?

I think it's a sovereignty thing. It has appeared in the past that Blair lean towards the Euro, but the sovereignty issue makes it completely unpalatable to British testes.

[Colonâ„¢]

Re: The end of the Euro?

Originally posted by DanS
Or at least the end of the perceived strength of the Euro. Portugal expects to announce a deficit of some 6 to 7% of its economy, a huge amount over the figure forecast by the IMF just a month ago. Why such a big surprise? It's like the Greece Olympic budget shenanigans. But how can Germany and France complain when they were first in line to gut the growth and stability pact?

I can see why the UK and some other European countries hesitate to join the Eurozone.

I've noticed the article fails to make any mention of the current account deficit the eurozone has. Probably because it doesn't have one.

And I don't see how the budget deficit in Portugal would have affected UK's. In any case, they're doing well enough off on their own ranking up the deficit: forecasted deficit of 3.2% this year.