An Anti-Euro Point of View
The Euro will surely be better for Britain because it will wipe out commission, thus saving firms and holidaymakers thousands of pounds every year.
The Euro will help to enforce anti-inflation discipline on governments.
The Euro will increase price transparency, so we can easily compare the prices of goods.
The Euro will be a stronger, more stable currency than the one we have at the moment.
NO.
None of these arguments for the Euro really hold any weight. Fine, I admit that it may wipe out commission for some firms dealing with Europe, so there may be small savings. But what about overall? Britain trades just as much with, say, North America as it does with the EU. And, with the EU commission gone, what will exchange firms do? Put commission up on other currencies. There are winners and losers.
It is relatively pointless for Britain or Europe to have anti-inflation discipline forced upon them when, thanks to Ken Clarke's astute management in Britain and poor growth rates in Europe, inflation rates are already at historic lows.
Price transparency, although meaningful maybe for someone living in Luxembourg, where you can pop across the border easily, has much less meaning for someone living in Manchester or Liverpool. Can you really see them in any way shape or form spending much money and much time travelling 300 miles just to check the price of bread in Calais isn't 2p cheaper than at home? I think not.
To refute the stabler currency argument you only have to look at the performance of the Euro against the dollar for the first three or four months of its life. It started at $1.17 approximately, and has been falling ever since - now (1/4/99) standing at approximately $1.07. Stable? It's lost nearly 10% of its value in three months.
Let's face it, people, there is no economic point to the Euro. It's just a big political exercise, meant to make sure that the names of people like Jacques Santer go down for ever in history. For them failure is not an option; but it will become a reality.
And next time you go to buy a house and need a mortgage, or put some money in the savings account, think on. Do you want your interest rate set by your own country, which can tailor it specifically for your country's needs, or do you want it set by the European Central Bank in Frankfurt, which is almost force-put to keep it at the levels France and Germany want - almost certainly not what the UK wants.
Just ask the Irish - they have had to over halve their interest rate to join. Now their economic boom is turning bust. And it's all down to the Euro.
Just think.