Single currency still in sight
Despite speculation that support for expanding the eurozone is waning after the French and Dutch rejections of the proposed EU constitution and the acrimonious summit that followed, the president of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), Jean Lemierre, has said that widening the single-currency area will not be affected by recent problems.
"I don't see any impact," Lemierre said. "The rules of the game are clear. The institutional framework is clear."
There has been worry of late that without a strong political base, the eurozone would come under pressure as countries in the area yearn for more control over monetary policy while struggling to improve their sluggish economies. Many currency investors have already begun assuming a five-percent risk that the monetary union will dissolve.
Several officials from the four biggest countries entering the EU last year - including some from Poland - have called for a slowdown in eurozone expansion to allow for more time for cutting deficits, those countries' biggest obstacle to joining the single currency.
However, the current Polish government's official policy remains that Poland should enter the eurozone before 2010. (Reuters)
"I don't see any impact," Lemierre said. "The rules of the game are clear. The institutional framework is clear."
There has been worry of late that without a strong political base, the eurozone would come under pressure as countries in the area yearn for more control over monetary policy while struggling to improve their sluggish economies. Many currency investors have already begun assuming a five-percent risk that the monetary union will dissolve.
Several officials from the four biggest countries entering the EU last year - including some from Poland - have called for a slowdown in eurozone expansion to allow for more time for cutting deficits, those countries' biggest obstacle to joining the single currency.
However, the current Polish government's official policy remains that Poland should enter the eurozone before 2010. (Reuters)
