Still, with the current difficulties it faces with the Southern Mediterranean states (and Ireland) the possibility of a Greek default on their loans, you'd have suspected that it would have been one of those states who would eventually be the first to leave the Euro. and that the Euro bolstered by the more stable Northern EU economies would survive.
Express.
ALMOST three-quarters of Germans doubt that the euro has a future, a poll reveals.Couple of years ago I'd have been gobsmacked by such an announcement, that was however until I noticed something a bit odd on my till receipts from my occasional booze cruises to France in that they all had the amount in Francs still printed on them, seems the only people who thought the Euro could work were the EUphiles and despite their claims, they still only form a minority of people throughout the EU, the rest being either highly hostile or mostly indifferent to the EU, just check out the percentage of votes cast in the EU elections, hardly a vote of confidence is it?
They also believe rescue attempts are futile as billions more euros will be paid to bail out Greece.
A poll by German newspaper, the Frankfurter Allgemeine, found 71 per cent had “doubt,” “no trust” or thought there is “no future” for the euro. Only 19 per cent expressed “confidence” in it.
Sixty eight per cent said they did not think the emergency bail out of Greece would work.
A separate poll last week showed more than half of Germans thought that Greece should be thrown out of the euro.
Rumours are also rife in Germany that Deutsche Mark bank notes are being printed again in preparation for ditching the euro.
It is said Germany’s central bank, the Bundesbank, has been ordered to print marks as part of contingency plans to leave Europe’s single currency.
I expect the EU to move heaven and Earth to keep the Germans onboard, but Merkel is walking on a knife edge, elections are due and it's just possible that the opposition will force the German governments hand. If Germany leaves the Euro it will be the end of it, far more so than if Greece does.
We can dream.
Can we leave yet?
4 annotations:
If Germany does reintroduce the Mark it would indeed my warrant uttering the phrase: "Hun", I could kiss you!
1. Why the apostrophe in "Mark's"?
2. They wouldn't officially return to the Deutschmark or French Franc anyway - for several decades, the northern European countries more or less had a currency union, exchange rate fluctuations were small, central bank base rates all moved up or down in line and so on. So they effectively had the Euro, and, because it was an informal, gentleman's agreement that bent with market forces, it worked just fine.
Sounds great, but one has to remember that the majority of Germans didn't want the Euro in the first place, so this survey merely shows that things haven't changed. One suspects a poll in this country, or even France, would produce similar results.
All it proves is that politicians in Germany are the same as Politicians in Britain, in that they take absolutely no notice of the electorate!
A currency for Germany that does not also include the PIIGS will be a strong currency, which will make German exports more expensive and thus harm the German economy. The effect of Germany leaving the Euro (or expelling the PIIGS from the Euro) will be felt much more widely than the German banking sector. This message does not seem to have percolated through to those polled.
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