Vanaf het begin was de euro gedoemd te mislukken. Toch is de munt ons opgedrongen om politieke redenen. De Britten zijn maar wat blij dat ze niet in het ‘hart van Europa’ en dus ook niet in deze voor de Grieken inmiddels helse muntunie hoeven te zitten.
The Greek crisis epitomises the complete mess that Europe has made of the single currency. Greece should never have been admitted in the first place, though it was not the only country – Belgium and Italy were two others – that didn’t meet the strict criteria for membership. From the beginning, the rules put in place for the euro, relating to bail-outs, monetary financing and deficit levels, have been ignored. Europe claims to be a rule-based organisation. But however else the eurozone is run, it is not run strictly according to its own rules.