Politicians must learn that euro is cause of Europe’s economic woes

The powers-that-be in Brussels held Ireland as the shining example of economic excellence throughout the Celtic Tiger and, excepting David McWilliams and Dr Morgan Kelly, who were pilloried, nobody in Ireland questioned the basis of the boom.

Fast forward to 2015 and, yet again, Ireland is being held as a shining economic success and an example of the benefits of austerity, and again nobody dares to question the fundamentals.

What will it take for politicians to come out of denial and realise that the cause of Europe’s economic woes is the Euro?

If a developer built an apartment complex with one fuse box, they would go to jail, yet our esteemed politicians try do the equivalent with the entire European economy, making the euro its one-stop fuse box. The same politicians then scratch their heads and wonder why, simultaneously, the economic lights go out.

No matter how much Germany wants the euro to work, a floating exchange rate between member states and individual currencies is the only way to stop contagion and excessive booms and busts.

We saved the flawed euro and were rewarded with austerity and a side-show called the “banking inquiry”.

Ignoring the euro’s role, while trying to fix Europe’s economic and social destruction, would be as successful as ignoring the role of cigarettes in causing lung cancer.

Nick Crawford

Tanglewood

Newcastle

Co. Wicklow