Inadequacies of the euro are exposed

The ongoing fiasco in Greece is a clear indictment of the inadequacies of the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) concept.

Back in the 1990s — when the project was being pushed through by the political elites in Europe — including an incredibly europhilic political system in this country, the basic structures that needed to be put in place to ensure something resembling an optimum currency area were ignored.

The failure to put in place mechanisms to deal with failing banks; the failure to put in place a system of providing fiscal assistance to countries struck by an asymmetric economic shock, which is a shock that is unique to a particular country or region; and the failure to put in place a proper system of fiscal and general economic governance and surveillance to ensure that countries behaved prudently and properly, are glaring examples of failure, but there are many others.