International
E.U. leaders for greater integration
By Batuk Gathani
BRUSSELS, JAN. 2. On Wednesday, nearly 305 million citizens in the 12 euro zone countries from the Arctic Circle to the Mediterranean rim, used their first euro notes and coins, marking a new era of European solidarity.
The launch of the new currency has overwhelmingly defied some dire predictions of chaos and confusion and the public's fear of being loaded with ``fake'' currency notes and coins by criminal gangs.
The euro faced its first real test on Wednesday as citizens and businesses returned to work after the New Year holiday on Tuesday, after witnessing the largest money changeover in history. Except for minor hiccups in some shops and store counters and confusion over conversion rates and coins ``change'', the euro trading went smoothly.
Even critics of the euro were astounded by the smooth switchover. All this has prompted European Union's political leaders to call for bolder steps towards further economic and
political integration of the E.U. The President of the European Commission, Mr Romano Prodi, spoke of ``a special day, a great day'' for the E.U. and said the euro would boost the European identity.
Historically, the emergence and consolidation of the euro and ``Europeanness'' began in 1989 after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the reunification of Germany. Germany then resolved to give up its powerful deutsche mark and opted to back the euro in the interests of achieving wider continental unity.
On Tuesday night, the German Chancellor, Mr. Gerhard Schroeder, exhorted his countrymen not be disheartened by the disappearance of the d.mark which symbolised Germany's prosperity in the post-War decades. The euro, he said, was the realisation of the centuries-old European dream of ``borderless'' travel and use of common currency. Napoleon Bonaparte echoed such sentiments centuries ago. Historians point out that for the first time since the Roman Empire, Europeans can travel and pay for goods and services with the same money.
In June, the euro fell to a new low against the dollar amid slow economic growth and inflation in the euro zone. The crisis was compounded by the widening communication gap between investors and the European Central Bank. Since then, the euro has modestly recovered against the dollar but the reality is that the euro has declined by about 25 per cent in value from its original rate.
The ECB has achieved its mandate of keeping prices steady and the current rate of inflation in the euro zone is under 2 per cent. Today, the euro takes the d.mark's place as the world's second reserve currency after the dollar, as there is marked improvement in the European public's sentiment about the new currency.
Although Britain has chosen to remain out of the euro zone, banks and other financial institutions in London have made preparations for euro trading. London is still the world's major foreign currency capital after New York, Frankfurt and Tokyo.
China has extended an enthusiastic welcome for the euro and Beijing hopes the currency will dilute the dominance of the dollar and help promote trade with the euro zone.
It is obvious that Europe has passed another milestone on the way to a united continent. The consensus view, according to latest surveys, is that a vast majority of the Europeans believe that the E.U. should expand and within a decade should stretch from Norway in the north to Greece in the south.
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