Gordon Brown: Euro must reform or die
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Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown says the Eurozone must be fundamentally reformed or face collapse.
Over the past week, the European Central Bank has purchased €22bn worth of Italian and Spanish bonds sending yields down and taking some of the pressure off economies struggling under the weight of large deficits.
Without going as far as Chancellor George Osborne, who last week called for Eurozone bonds to be issued in exchange for closer fiscal coordination, Brown writes in the New York Times that the current structure is unworkable.
He says: “Some time ago I reached the conclusion that there is was no solution possible within the existing Euro structure. Either the Euro has to be fundamentally reformed by Europe’s political leaders and the European Central Bank or it will collapse. After the events of the last few days I know for sure there is not even a chance of a middle way.”
Brown argues the wider European Union is being held back by its current set up which requires agreement from all 27 member states on some economic matters.
He says: “Europe’s leaders are also handcuffed by an inadequate treaty of Union, by the problem of getting a coherent response from 27 different nations, and by a rise in anti-European sentiment in their home countries (particularly in Germany), which has deterred them from sanctioning collective action beyond that which protects short-term national self interest.”
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Readers' comments (7)
Nick Bamford | 16 Aug 2011 4:08 pm
Remind me again what were the "five tests" that had to be passed before the UK was going to join the Euro?
Thank goodness we didn't join
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Exasperated me | 16 Aug 2011 4:28 pm
Gordon isn't as stupid as he looks.
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ElaineS | 16 Aug 2011 5:14 pm
Its thanks to Gordon for being against us joining and standing his ground, if Tony Blair had, had his way we would have joined the Euro.
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chris smith | 16 Aug 2011 9:28 pm
Yep Gordon Brown
.. the man that sold our gold reserves at the bottom of the market
.. the man who raided private pensions and slash their value
.. the man who sold us out on incompetantly negotiated PFI's for 10's of years to come
.. the man who sold out on nay values he ever had for power
.. the man who gave us the FSA which created the banking crisis by incompetant regulation the IFA's, mortgage banks and secutritisation of such mortgages by investment banks.
... the list goes on .. and on .. and on
Gordon your dream is to join the fat cat gravy train in the EU like the rest of our political incompetants .. I say let us out and let Gordon in :-)
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Norm d'Plume | 16 Aug 2011 11:04 pm
With GB's record of presiding over the ruining of our economy over 13 years, if he think the Euro is bad it must be awful!
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Julian Stevens | 17 Aug 2011 10:11 am
IMHO, the fact that the UK never joined the Eurozone is a decidedly good thing (we don't seem to hear much on the subject from Ken Clarke these days, do we?). Even so, GB still managed spectacularly to mismanage the UK economy to the brink of collapse so I'm hardly inclined to set any store by anything he might have to say on any aspect of economics.
The Eurozone was a monumentally costly social experiment doomed to failure from the word go and I, for one, won't be sorry to see it consigned to history.
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PeterS | 18 Aug 2011 12:21 pm
I am certain Nigel Farage was telling everyone that the Euro was doomed before it was launched.
The current situation merely helps the EU elite take total control of those countries that signed up.
Here end'eth democracy.
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