Former ECB chief economist Otmar Issing currently advises against expanding the group of euro countries.
"At the moment it does not look as if the euro would improve if more countries took part," said Issing in an interview with the German Press Agency in Frankfurt on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the introduction of euro cash for the first time. January 2002. He currently does not see "that individual countries are adequately prepared," said Issing.
"Not every new country weakens the euro, there can be no question of that," emphasized the Würzburg economics professor, who was initially chief economist at the Deutsche Bundesbank (October 1990 - May 1998) and then in the same position at the European Central Bank (ECB / June 1998 - May 2006) was active. “But permanent stability must be guaranteed. It is not enough to dress up for the moment of the wedding and then fall back into old, bad habits afterwards. "
On January 1, 2015, Lithuania was the last country to join the group of countries with the common currency - as the 19th member of the euro zone. Croatia and Bulgaria have been trying for years to meet the criteria for admission. In the EU treaties, all states of the European Union have committed to adopting the euro as soon as they meet the requirements such as price stability and solid public finances. Only Denmark and the United Kingdom, which has since left the EU, achieved an exception to the rule in the Maastricht Treaty.
Already now the heterogeneity of the countries and thus also the interests is a huge problem for the ECB and the common monetary policy for the euro area, said Issing.
“It is important that the national central bank governors also pursue a course that keeps the euro stable and does not indulge in national interests.
They are not the representatives of national interests.
But when buying government bonds plays such a dominant role in the policy of the ECB, then it is very difficult to put national concerns aside. "
Not everything has become more expensive
For 11 of the then 15 EU member states, the euro became legal tender on January 1, 1999 - initially only electronically, and from January 1, 2002 on in the form of notes and coins. Today the euro is the official means of payment for around 340 million people in 19 EU countries. Issing cannot understand why the euro has still not completely shaken off its image as “expensive”. "I understand that with the introduction of the euro banknotes in 2002 the impression arose:" Everything has become more expensive, "said the economist.
“But that only applies to goods for everyday use. The bread roll, the restaurant visit, these are things that have clearly become more expensive. But the “everything has become more expensive” perception ignores reality. For example, rents, which together with heating costs make up around a third of the budget, were constant in Germany at the time, and that for years. The amount is debited from the account, you don't notice that. "
Thus, "the perceived inflation (...) was far ahead of the real one and it took quite a while for this impression to disappear," said Issing. There was less room for feelings in the design of the euro notes: to this day, buildings that do not actually exist represent Europe. “When we discussed what the new euro notes should look like at the Bundesbank, I was aware from the start that this would only be possible with symbols that had no national character,” recalls Issing.
“Imagine if the French insisted on having Napoleon on a banknote.
The countries that suffered under Napoleon protested.
And so there are many examples.
They then decided on symbols of a completely neutral kind: bridges.
That should be the symbol: The euro is building bridges in Europe. "When designing new banknotes, Europe's monetary authorities now want to build bridges to consumers: The ECB will" work with European citizens in a process that will lead to a final decision in 2024 should lead, ”announced the central bank at the beginning of December.