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“We all remember the first time we held a euro banknote in our hands. Twenty years later, the euro is one of the most powerful currencies in the world. The euro also reflects our values as a global currency for sustainable investments. And it is a strong symbol of unity ”: this is the tweet of Ursula von der Leyen, president of the EU Commission, to commemorate the twentieth anniversary of the single currency. Also on social media, David Sassoli, president of the European Parliament, writes: «The euro is a symbol of peace and integration, the realization of a historical political vision, of a continent united with a single currency for a single market. Happy 20th birthday, euro! ». And could a memory of Romano Prodi, one of the promoters of the continental uniform, be missing? «We consider the euro only a fact of economic importance. But look at that it is a matter of political importance because Europe with a single currency has an enormously greater strength in the world. When the euro was being prepared – reveals the former prime minister of olive oil on Rai Radio1 – and I had meetings with the Chinese presidents, they asked for nothing but the euro. Besides, he was interested in practically nothing. They said: “We want the euro because if next to the dollar there is the euro, then there will also be room for our currency”. Thus we understand the political concept of pluralism of world management that was behind the introduction of the euro. It wasn’t just the bankers’ game as some stupid man called the euro “, the Professor emphasizes:” It was the great beginning of the change in the world. Which then happened in the middle because with the great crisis the euro struggled to expand, but now it has started again. And truly, alongside the dollar, there is a euro with its own role, not yet comparable to that of the dollar, but certainly important ».
The numbers actually belie Prodi, just think of his historic sentence: “With the euro we will work one day less, earning as if we worked one day more”. Meanwhile, it must be said that dollars for an amount equal to 13 trillion dollars circulate outside the United States, while outside the euro countries there are just 3.4 trillion euros. Furthermore, apart from the Chinese, few continental states have benefited from the single currency. A couple of years ago the report of the German think tank Cep had established winners and losers of the monetary union. Well, since the euro came into existence, every German citizen has earned an average of 23 thousand euros, each Italian has lost 74 thousand. The Dutch have also become richer (+ 21,000 euros per capita), while the French (-55,996), Portuguese (-40,604 euros) and Spaniards (-5,031 euros) have lost.
Since the introduction of the single currency – the prestigious Friborg study center recalled – an erosion of international competitiveness has led to “lower economic growth and lower tax revenues. Greece and Italy, in particular, have gone through serious difficulties due to the fact that they have not been able to devalue their own currency ”. Prodi also pointed the finger at Italy and Greece, in reference to the explosion in prices after January 1, 2002. «Only in these two countries has there been this phenomenon, because in both countries they did not want to monitor. My government had established, Ciampi had made all technical decrees, first: that there were mandatory prices for at least 6 months both in lire and in euros. So that people could see what the change was like. Second: the provincial commissions for control had to be established. It was not done. And people took advantage of it ». Ah … Too easy to blame the Berlusconi government, the one that managed the transition from lira to euro. The numbers of the following 20 years have marked a twenty-year stagnation, caused by two main reasons: boom in real estate prices, linked to the low cost of money (thanks to the euro), and lack of wage growth (set by Germany to export more). A deadly mix that has impoverished Italy.
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