The Euro: an unfinished project and why that is important now
This piece is much longer than our normal blogs. We hope that you find it of interest of course, however the somewhat technical language and length is makes this quite different to our normal publications. To many Kiwis, the Euro is simply the currency of Europe. Just as the New Zealand Dollar is the currency of New Zealand. There is no fundamental difference. However, this is not the case. The Euro is very much an unfinished project that is held together more by political will than economic norms. Its very structure and system of operating has not only impeded the performance of most member economies, it has already threatened to plunge the European economy as a whole into destructive chaos. With inflation now rising around the world, it could be about to do so again. The history of the Euro The Euro was launched on the 1 st of January 1999. With the introduction of coins and bank notes on the 1 st of January 2002, a host of currencies ceased to exist. The German Deutschmark, the