The
Things They Say.
You
Have Been Warned!
Eddie George, Governor of the
Bank of England.
"Monetary union is fundamentally a political
issue".
"If we had joined at the
start, Britain would now be suffering a job destroying inflationary boom".
Wim Duisenberg, President of
the European Central Bank.
"The process of monetary
union goes hand-in-hand with political integration and ultimately political
union".
John Monks, British TUC General
Secretary.
"We should be clear that
joining is as much about politics as economics".
German Foreign Minister,
Fischer.
"For the first time in the history of the
European integration process … an important part of the national sovereignty,
to wit, monetary sovereignty, has passed over to a European institution…the
introduction of a common currency is not primary an economic, but rather a
sovereign and thus an eminently political act".
"Transforming a European
Union into a single state with one army, one constitution, and one foreign
policy is the critical challenge of the age".
Spanish Prime Minister,
Gonzalez.
" The single currency is
the greatest abandonment of sovereignty since the foundation of the European
Community…we need this united Europe…we must never forget the euro is an
instrument for this project".
Hans Tietmeyer, Former
President of the German Bundesbank.
"The European currency
will lead to member nations transferring their sovereignty over financial and
wage policies as well as monetary affairs.
It is an illusion to think that states can hold on to their autonomy over
taxations policies".
Jean Luc Dehaene, former Prime
Minister of Belgium.
"Monetary union is the
motor of European integration".
Jean-Claude Trichet, European
Central Bank.
"The Council of Ministers
will have far more power over the budgets of the member states than the federal
government in the United States has over the budget of Texas".
Helmut Kohl, former German
Chancellor.
"A European army and a
European police force lie at the end of the road to European Union".
Laruent
Fabius, French Finance Minister (French television, Feb 02).
"We already have monetary federalism because there is a European Central Bank which, liaising with finance ministers, defines Europe's monetary policy. I believe that faced with with this monetary federalism we will increasingly move towards budgetary federalism".