In the Eurozone there are many ticking debt bombs.
Sir, I refer to “Europe’s plan: complete its single market” by Barbara Moens and Alice Hancock, FT Big Read June 24, 2025. It states that “Three decades after it was launched, hundreds of barriers still persist within the EU.
November 1998, few weeks before that launch, in an Op-ed titled “Burning the bridges in Europe”, I wrote: “The Euro has one characteristic that differentiates it from the Dollar. This characteristic makes me feel less optimistic as to its chances of success. The Dollar is backed by a solidly unified political entity, i.e., the United States of America. The Euro, on the other hand, seems to be aimed at creating unity and cohesion. It is not the result of these.”
Years later, during the 2018 Winter Olympics, seeing/hearing Sofia Goggia singing her Italian national anthem with such enthusiasm, that opinion got reinforced. Frankly, now 2025, how many Europeans know and sing EU’s anthem Joy to the World as theirs?
In the referenced Op-Ed I also wrote: “Exchange rates, while not perfect, are escape valves. By eliminating this valve, European nations must make their economic adjustments in real terms. This makes these adjustments much more explosive.”
And that was before I knew that, amazingly, even if none of the Eurozone sovereigns can print Euros on their own, EU’s bank regulators, for Basel’s risk weighted bank capital/equity requirements, decreed a 0 percent risk weight. What ticking debt-bombs! Imagine if US had done so with the debt of its 50 states.
Sir, could Brexit have happened if Britain had also burned its bridges by adopting the Euro?
Sir, Bulgaria has no idea into what it wants to get into.
Sir, with bank regulations based on the Eurocrats knowing better what to do with credit, for which repayment they’re not personally responsible for, than EU’s private sectors, what chance does Europe have?
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