Word: euros
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...euro's 10th anniversary will see the euro zone take on a 16th member, Slovakia. Eight other central and East European countries have set the goal of joining within the next six years, including Poland, whose political establishment dropped its longtime opposition after a recent run on the Polish zloty. The euro has found some other unexpected converts too, thanks to the financial crisis. The Danes voted against joining the euro zone in 2000, but they are set to hold another referendum in March. Iceland - not even an E.U. member - is pondering "unilateral euroization" after seeing its krona plunge nearly...
...biggest prize of all, Britain, is said to be warming to the euro. Barroso recently claimed that London is "closer than ever before" to euro-zone entry and that "the people who matter in Britain" think it should join. That may be overstating things a bit, but a report by research group Chatham House warns that as the euro zone grows, the U.K. risks being excluded from "deeper intra-E.U. economic consultation and coordination, including in areas of significant national interest, such as financial market regulation." (See pictures of the financial crisis in London...
...doesn't help that the pound is wilting. Two years ago, one euro was worth just ?0.65. Now, humbled by bank crashes, government bailouts and a collapsing housing market that has forced massive interest rate cuts, Europe's currency is within a pence or two of parity with the pound. "The debate has changed from a total fantasy in the U.K.," says Jean Pisani-Ferry, director of Brussels-based think tank Bruegel. "The political obstacles still remain strong, but it has changed the perception of the U.K. as the perfect system...
...Pisani-Ferry says the financial crisis has been a defining moment for the euro, but he cautions against too much praise. The euro is still some way from dethroning the dollar as a global currency; just 27% of global foreign exchange reserves are held in euros compared with 62% in dollars...
...says, the euro's first decade has been characterized by budget rows and debates about the European Central Bank's monetary policy, when the focus should be on correcting big macroeconomic divergences, like Spain's and Ireland's recent (and ultimately doomed) property bubbles. "The euro zone needs more ability to act in times of real crises, or to prevent them," Pisani-Ferry says. "It is a slow process." But one that has come a long way in 10 years...