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Euro About to Mark 10 Years

Common currency has its share of winners and losers

By Harry Kimball,  Newser Staff

Posted May 1, 2008 6:02 PM CDT
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(Newser) – Like many 10-year-olds, the euro has had its ups and downs, but its current ascendancy is worrying, and not just to fans of the weakening dollar; some European states are chafing at the strength of their common currency, the New York Times reports. The German economic engine is causing high prices and ballooning debt in countries such as Greece, Italy, Spain, and Portugal.

These concerns are not new; some founders of the euro even doubted its future, fearing that countries with weaker economies, such as Italy, could not accommodate a union with dynamos such as Germany. But Europe came together for the sake of a political union; then the German economy faltered, and low interest rates were the norm. Now the tide has turned.

An employee changes euros and dollars in downtown Milan, Italy, in this July 5, 2005 file photo.
An employee changes euros and dollars in downtown Milan, Italy, in this July 5, 2005 file photo.   (AP Photo/Luca Bruno, File)
The Euro sculpture is seen in front of the European Central Bank building in Frankfurt, Germany.
The Euro sculpture is seen in front of the European Central Bank building in Frankfurt, Germany.   (AP Photo/Bernd Kammerer, File)
Two euro coins.
Two euro coins.   (AP Photo/Bob Edme)
A woman walks past a foreign exchange rate information panel in central Milan, Italy.
A woman walks past a foreign exchange rate information panel in central Milan, Italy.   (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
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Euro has own website
Europa.eu

Italy also needs euros...for Alitalia
Associated Press

World • Money

 
inflation • Germany • European Union • Europe • currency • Italy • euro • economy

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