Experts gather to discuss euro’s fate
A group of economists and currency experts are gathering in Berlin this weekend to discuss the fate of the euro, with the view that the currency is bound to collapse eventually.
After indebted nations such as Greece, Portugal and Spain almost dragged the euro zone into the abyss last spring, top policy experts from France, Germany, Luxembourg, the European Commission and Europe's Central Bank established a secret task force, Wall Street Journal reports. Their aim is to devise a rescue plan for the 16-nation euro zone, which is bound to eventually fall apart, they believe.
However, the collapse of the euro looks less probable now than it did three months ago, as euro zone economies are faring significantly better than expected. Germany’s unemployment, for example, has gone down and in the quarter of this year it registered the best quarterly growth rate in the last 20 years.
Nigel Farage of the UK’s Independent Party says more unrest is yet to come because the problem that shook the euro zone has not gone.
“The situation in Portugal is possibly worse than that in Greece,” Farage said. “Don’t think that because we had a relatively quiet summer that these things have gone away. Plus, between now and Christmas the Greeks have to roll over a huge amount of their own government debt. This has not gone away. The basic fundamental problem that these countries are not well-suited to be in the same monetary union has not gone away.”
Dr. Wilhelm Hankel, one of the currency experts who filed a lawsuit in the German constitutional court against the Greek bail-out, said the bail-out violated the provisions of the Treaty on European Union.
“The treaty for the European community [states] that a bail-out is completely forbidden,” Hankel said. “A country, which can count on being bailed out will not follow financial and monetary discipline.”
Jurgen Elssaser, one of the conference organizers, says the delegates are aiming to produce an action plan by the end of the meeting.
“We will push for a referendum about the euro, or going back to the Deutschmark in Germany,” Elssaser said.
German business newsletter editor Dr. Eike Hamer has a very pro-referendum position on the euro.
“One reason is that people have to decide whether they like a currency or not. If they do not accept it, they should have an end to an otherwise never-ending story,” Hamer told RT.
However, author and market guru Michael Mross has his doubts regarding the referendum
“All those questions around the euro are being ignored. We don't have a real support from the media, from the masses. It's a real scandal in my opinion that you, from the Russian TV are here, while none of the Western media are covering this event here,” Mross told RT.
