The euro celebrates two decades at the height of its strength. A central actor in the functioning of the European Union, the European Central Bank is preparing to launch a financing program for member countries, in a hybrid modality of loans and donations. Countries like Greece will receive the equivalent of 9% of their GDP.
According to the latest survey by the Eurobarometer, the measure of public opinion in the European Union, 80% of the citizens of the nations that make up the bloc support the euro.
The enthusiasm is not without surprise, such was the demonization of the currency during most of its brief existence. At the beginning of the century, anti-system movements exploited the rising cost of living generated by the introduction of the euro to radicalize the debate about the European Union. The “no” victory in the referendum on the European Constitutional Treaty held in France in 2005 marked the beginning of an era of uncertainty.
From that moment on, the technical debate on the merits of the new monetary system, so instigating in the 1990s, gave way to a campaign of strong populist tones bringing together anti-capitalist and nationalist libertarians who adhered to Milton Friedman’s theses.
After the 2008 crisis and the imposition of brutal austerity measures in the countries of the south of the continent, the euro started to be caricatured as the final piece of a project of colonization of other Europeans by the Germans in conjunction with the EU technocrats. A delusional but tremendously effective rhetoric that later served as an inspiration for campaigns for brexit in the UK and against the WHO or the United Nations in the Americas.
The Grexit episode, when the Greeks massively voted against a new fiscal adjustment plan in an act of rebellion against the European Union, was a watershed in the history of the euro.
Even in the paroxysm of the crisis, when dismantling the monetary system seemed to be the only possible solution, support for the currency never dropped below 60%, even in the countries most punished by austerity.
The pandemic only reinforced Europeans’ pro-euro convictions. Today, Greeks, Portuguese and many others are fully aware that their respective governments would never be able to navigate the pandemic seas armed with the coins of yesteryear.
Drachmas, shields would do nothing to fight inflation and stabilize supply chains. The nightmare of the lira, the Turkish currency that has just experienced its worst year in two decades, would likely be repeated in other European countries.
The evidence in favor of the euro is so strong that the populists were forced to call the revolt over. About to start his third presidential campaign, Marine Le Pen will take a stand for the first time in favor of keeping France in the eurozone. His far-right rival Eric Zemmour, who has publicly defended frexit throughout his career as a journalist, has also retired the flag.
A structuring theme in the European economic debate over the past two decades, the euro has simply ceased to be a campaign issue.
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