Word: euros
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...from 39 to 35 hours with no loss in pay, suspend planned privatizations, cut the sales tax and raise the minimum wage. The leftist platform, if implemented, threatens to send the deficits soaring and derail French chances of meeting the tough criteria for joining Europe's single currency, the euro. With Germany racked by increasing doubts about its own ability to make the grade, the French election touched off a new though probably exaggerated round of Euro-pessimism...
...Treaty, which sets the rules for combining Europe's currencies, the Socialists claim to be staunch supporters of the monetary union. But there is an obvious contradiction between Jospin's economic policies and the Maastricht requirements. "Their economic recipes are diametrically opposed to what is needed to join the euro," says Pierre Lellouche, a foreign policy adviser to Chirac. Seeking to calm such fears, Jospin said last week that his promised economic measures would be introduced only gradually. Quicker action is urged by the Communists, who hold three Cabinet posts and whose 39 votes Jospin needs to muster a majority...
...French elections is that austerity measures are too hot to hold on to and that entry into the monetary union will be judged by other standards. In a final bid for votes last week, Juppe said when it comes time next spring to pick the members of the euro club, "the decision will be a political one." Translation: Paris will stop drastic budget cutting, and Italy is probably going to get in. Since the Socialists take similar positions, that is likely to be true whoever is running the government...
...memory of the hyperinflation that wiped out the nation's savings in 1923. Germans put great store in a strong, reliable currency and are not thrilled at the prospect of giving up their beloved mark. If they are to trade it in for a soft or unpredictable euro, they will do their best to fight...
...when the new euro will actually be in Europeans' pockets and checking accounts, some of the eastern states--possibly the same ones that join NATO--may be welcomed into the European Union. This reshaping of the old Continent could turn out to be the first stage of a new unity, as Clinton hopes and predicts. But there is also a risk that it could create a dangerous division of the Continent between nations that are strong and prosperous and those that are weak and fearful...