I think the politics & war section needs a thread focusing soley on the Euro € currency and the European Central Bank (ECB) and the enormous unelected, undemocratic power they now wield.
First though, a quick recap of the current situation:
At present there are 19 official countries using the euro
1. Austria
2. Belgium
3. Cyprus
4. Estonia
5. Finland
6. France
7. Germany
8. Greece
9. Ireland
10. Italy
11. Latvia
12. Lithuania
13. Luxembourg
14. Malta
15. Netherlands
16. Portugal
17. Slovakia
18. Slovenia
19. Spain
and 2 countries who "unofficially" use it
1. Montenegro
2. Kosovo
Only 2 countries have had referendums to decide if they wanted the euro or not.
In all other 19 countries the people were not given a choice.
In both below cases the people voted NO and kept their own currencies.
1. Denmark
2. Sweden
One European country's government decided on its own it didn't want the euro before it was introduced in 2002
1. United Kingdom
A further 6 countries are "obliged" to start using the euro but either don't qualify yet or have been secretly (but deliberately) using various tactics to avoid qualifying and thereby avoid having their economies controlled by the European central bank.
1. Poland
2. Hungary
3. Czech Republic
4. Croatia
5. Romania
6. Bulgaria
As this forum has of some of the smartest men in the world contributing their excellent political and financial analysis, I would like to get other members views on the future of this currency and the undemocratic centralized power of the European central bank.
I firmly believe that the euro has caused rampant price rises across Europe since 2002, not brought the benefits of cross border competition in goods and services as was promised, and has removed a lot of sovereign power from individual nations over to the ECB in Frankfurt
What does the future of this monetary arrangement look like to you ?
First though, a quick recap of the current situation:
At present there are 19 official countries using the euro
1. Austria
2. Belgium
3. Cyprus
4. Estonia
5. Finland
6. France
7. Germany
8. Greece
9. Ireland
10. Italy
11. Latvia
12. Lithuania
13. Luxembourg
14. Malta
15. Netherlands
16. Portugal
17. Slovakia
18. Slovenia
19. Spain
and 2 countries who "unofficially" use it
1. Montenegro
2. Kosovo
Only 2 countries have had referendums to decide if they wanted the euro or not.
In all other 19 countries the people were not given a choice.
In both below cases the people voted NO and kept their own currencies.
1. Denmark
2. Sweden
One European country's government decided on its own it didn't want the euro before it was introduced in 2002
1. United Kingdom
A further 6 countries are "obliged" to start using the euro but either don't qualify yet or have been secretly (but deliberately) using various tactics to avoid qualifying and thereby avoid having their economies controlled by the European central bank.
1. Poland
2. Hungary
3. Czech Republic
4. Croatia
5. Romania
6. Bulgaria
As this forum has of some of the smartest men in the world contributing their excellent political and financial analysis, I would like to get other members views on the future of this currency and the undemocratic centralized power of the European central bank.
I firmly believe that the euro has caused rampant price rises across Europe since 2002, not brought the benefits of cross border competition in goods and services as was promised, and has removed a lot of sovereign power from individual nations over to the ECB in Frankfurt
What does the future of this monetary arrangement look like to you ?