Euro woes: No joy for 10-year-old currency
Posted on January 4th, 2012
2012 marks 10 years since Europeans first held euro notes and coins in their hands. But prospects are grim for Europe’s single currency in the New Year, as the region’s leaders warn of tough sacrifices in this “most severe test in decades”.
With recession looming, the sense of optimism that greeted the united currency at its inception seems to have evaporated.
The birth of an ambitious project – a common currency – was celebrated with no less than a big bang.
“The euro is the beginning of a stronger European Union. We shall be the best in the world, the best in the world!” promised Romano Prodi, the former European Commission president back in 2002.
Yet 10 years down the road, the euro is not in the best of shape: a spiraling sovereign debt crisis, credit downgrades, rising interest rates, tens of millions unemployed, budget cuts, and violent protests.
“The euro is undergoing the worst crisis it has ever been in and obviously the founders of the euro did not hope that this would happen,” economist Janis Emmanouilidis explained to RT.
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