It's true that it would be handy for me, but I do feel that control of the interest rate is one of the main economic tools available to a government. Being stuck with the interest rate that suits Germany whilst also being unable to devalue their currency has made it impossible for Greece to re-start her economy.
I wasn't totally against the idea of the Euro, it was more the way it was implemented. As I said in my previous post, the way it was introduced was more about satisfying political vanity than in producing a workable and durable solution (as, incidentally, was the ridiculously quick expansion of the EU by accepting so many new members at once). Political hubris is one of the worst failings of the EU.
The creation of the single currency should have shown a more rigorous approach to convergence criteria and started off with a single currency involving a small central group of more or less convergent EU states (Germany, Benelux and maybe France & Italy). The others economies should have been then pegged to the Euro by an exchange rate mechanism at first so that they could unfetter themselves if needs be, but could join when (and only when) their economies were genuinely convergent with the Euro bloc.
I do believe in the original aims of the European project; of harmony between European neighbours and of improving the lot of less developed member states. It has been reasonably successful at some of this. Take Ireland for example; despite their recent economic woes from the over heating of the celtic tiger, Ireland is unrecognizable from the poor country I remember as a child. Much of this is due to the support received from the EU. I don't however believe in one big federal European super state, and I am highly critical of much of the way the EU is run. It's not too late. Europe needs fixing, not breaking up.
