Are there political benefits to offset the economic risks associated with the Single Currency project?
• The answer to this question depends on your point of view. If you believe that the creation of a United States of Europe is a goal of such supreme importance that all other considerations should be subordinated to attaining it, and that the Single Currency is a major stepping stone to this end, you may believe that the political gain from European Monetary Union justifies the economic risks. This is not a view, however, which is shared across the whole of the EU. There are majorities in favour of the Single Currency in countries which gain heavily from the EU budget, such as Ireland, Greece, Spain and Portugal, and in the Benelux EU heartland. Among the larger Members, however, while Italy and France have majorities in favour, Germany and Britain have significant majorities against, as do Sweden, Austria, Finland and Denmark. The strong opposition in Germany to the submergence of the Deutsche Mark in the euro is particularly significant. • Why, then, are the political lites across th
