É tempo de começarmos a pensar noutra coisa

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Extractos de um lúcido artigo de Samuel Brittan no FT de hoje:

"Indeed, the insistence of the German government on impossibly severe fiscal policies makes one wonder if it really wants the euro to continue in its present form. Wolfgang Schäuble, the German finance minister, has said: “Should a eurozone member ultimately find itself unable to consolidate its budgets or restore its competitiveness, this country should as a last resort exit the monetary union while being able to remain a member of the EU.” It is not a very profound insight that if one country were to exit, the financial spotlight would turn on the most vulnerable of the remaining members.

"(...) unit labour costs have risen in the decade of the euro’s existence by about 30 per cent relative to Germany. It could be that these indices give an excessive weight to manufacturing, but this is too slender a thread on which to base an optimistic outcome. I admit to having thought it possible that the euro itself might have prevented these historical differentials from reasserting themselves. But they are back. Even the Greek colonels, Franco, Mussolini or Salazar would have been hard put to reduce nominal wages on the scale required.(...)

"Many German citizens would love to have the D-Mark back. Southern Europeans no doubt share the human desire to have their cake and eat it; but in the end they will surely welcome the chance to regain control of their own destinies rather than face an indefinite period of stagnation and falling living standards. I cannot speak for France. But surely one day even its leaders will realise that none of the ingenious currency plans they have been producing for the last few decades will give them the whip hand over Germany they so desire."

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