Mehdi Hasan Quotes

The Euro was a terrible mistake, one that is very difficult to unmake.

While it was an experiment to bring them together, nothing has divided Europe as much as the euro.

The euro is a sickly premature infant, the result of an over-hasty monetary union.

The 1992 crisis proved that the existing system was unstable. Not moving forward to the euro would have set up Europe for even more disruptive crises.

A common currency imposes on us a duty to cooperate more on policy.

A single currency entails a fixed interest rate, which means countries can't manage their own currency to suit their own needs. You need a variety of institutions to help nations for which the policies aren't well suited. Europe introduced the euro without providing those structures.

A national currency, with the Euro as a common currency - that wouldn't bother me.

The euro is going to continue to be the largest single trading block.

Europe is one thing. The euro is something else.

We have no intention of leaving the euro. In no way will we experiment with the future of our country.

If we have a common currency, the main regulator for policy in the country is the fiscal policy.

The euro is a vital issue for Germany. There is no other country that derives as much benefit from the common domestic market and the monetary union as Germany.

The participation of our country in the eurozone is a guarantee for the country's monetary stability. It is a driver of financial prosperity.

Indeed, the creators of the euro envisioned it as an instrument to promote political union.

Not all Greeks are ready to do whatever is necessary to stay in the euro.

It seems like cloud cuckoo land... If anyone is suggesting that I would go to Parliament and suggest the abolition of the pound sterling — no! ... We have made it quite clear that we will not have a single currency imposed on us.

The euro is... a failed currency, a wrong currency, a failed experiment.

I think there are going to be more countries joining the euro.

I am sure the euro will oblige us to introduce a new set of economic policy instruments. It is politically impossible to propose that now. But some day there will be a crisis and new instruments will be created.

I'm a pessimist about the euro, but not about Europe. So the southern periphery, Spain, Italy, Greece, leave - Italy might be the first to go - and the rest stay. That will work just fine. But unless they want to give up democracy, I don't see greater fiscal union as the answer.

Our membership of the euro is a guarantee of monetary stability and creates the right conditions for sustainable growth. Our membership of the euro is the only choice.

When the euro was born, it was born in the wrong economic circumstances.

Europe unified its monetary policy through the euro before it unified politically, therefore sustaining member countries' abilities to pursue the kind of independent fiscal policies that can strain a joint currency.

I was sure we would never see the adoption of the Euro. Countries giving up their currencies for a common tender was, it seemed to me, completely out of tune with currency being a carrier of people's cultural identity, celebrating national heroes and events, as it had been for hundreds of years.

More cuts were needed to avoid exiting the eurozone.