Outlook for the Euro

An article in the Irish Daily Mail placed on the blog of Mary Ellen Synon in the Daily Mail makes very interesting reading and it is linked here and I quote below its closing paragraphs:

‘The blindness to these risks in Berlin, Frankfurt, Brussels and The Hague means that the viability of the euro itself will remain in question over the medium term. It has only survived so well for ten years because its first major test arose from excessive post-reunification German costs: the German élite has never hesitated to put the interests of European unification ahead of the welfare of the German people.’

‘Now that the long-term sufferers from the absurd imbalances of the EMU system are to be Italians, Greeks, and Spaniards, with unemployment rising to levels reminiscent of the 1980s and early 1990s, when inflation was being expunged, it seems unlikely either that Italy, in particular, will continue to wish to be in EMU, or that Germany will want to pay the ever-mounting cost of keeping Club Med in it.’

‘Whether the Euro system will survive is an open question. What is clearer is that the performance of its member economies is poor in any case, and made significantly worse by membership of EMU.’

Deteriorating industrial relations in France are covered in The Times which is also an item worth reading this morning, linked here.

Euro Meetin on March 18 in London

RT HON. JOHN REDWOOD, MP
THE EU AND THE ECONOMIC CRISIS
Chairman of the Economic Competitiveness Policy Group
&
PROFESSOR TIM CONGDON
WHY THE UK IS LUCKY TO BE OUTSIDE THE EUROZONE IN A CREDIT CRUNCH
One of Britain’s leading economic commentators

RT HON. JOHN REDWOOD, MP
John Redwood is Chairman of Conservatives Party Economic Competitiveness Policy Group. In May 1993 he was appointed Secretary of State for Wales. In 1995 he challenged John Major for the Conservative Party leadership.

In opposition he has acted as Shadow Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (1997-1999) Shadow Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions (1999-2000) and Shadow Secretary of State for Deregulation (2004-2005).

He has written widely on Eurosceptic issues, free enterprise and democracy. His publications include; Our Currency Our Country, Stars and Strife: The coming conflict between Europe and America and The Death of Britain?


PROFESSOR TIM CONGDON, CBE
Professor Tim Congdon is one of Britain’s leading economic commentators. He was a member of the Treasury Panel of Independent Forecasters (the so-called “wise men”) between 1992 and 1997, which advised the Chancellor of the Exchequer on economic policy. He founded Lombard Street Research, the City of London’s leading economic research and forecasting consultancy, in 1989. He is an honorary professor at Cardiff Business School and a visiting professor at Cass Business School. He has written a number of books on monetary policy, contributes widely to the financial press, and makes frequent radio and television appearances.

Professor Condon is also the author of the Bruges Group paper, Will the EU’s Constitution Rescue its Currency?

He was awarded the CBE for services to economic debate in 1997. Professor Congdon is a member of the Bruges Group’s Academic Advisory Council.

LOCATION: Foreign Press Association
11 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1Y 5AJ

AGENDA:

Lectures: 7.00pm – 8.00pm
Discussion: 8.00pm – 8.30pm
Wine and refreshments: 8.30pm – 10.00pm

Contact The Bruges Group.