Eurozone split would cost Ireland 50% of wealth

IRELAND and the other eurozone countries could immediately lose half their wealth were the euro area to break apart, while Germany would lose a million jobs if the currency area were to shrink to a few core members.

The figures, from a German financial institution, were part of an argument put forward by Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso to a German audience amid reports France and Germany are planning a two-tier euro.

They must choose unity over fragmentation, otherwise Europe will be reduced to a collection of “perfectly sovereign corks bobbling along in the wake of other people’s ocean liners”, he said, quoting Britain’s Paddy Ashdown.