Jose Angel Gurria Quotes

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 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.

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

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.

In reality, the euro is a currency created by Germany for Germany. It’s a suit that only fits Germany.

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

Europe is one thing. The euro is something else.

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

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.

Some countries that are close to Europe that already hold Deutschemarks, clearly would automatically hold euros, those are countries in Eastern Europe mainly, a few countries in Africa.

At the time of the formation of the euro, I would say most American economists said that's not a good idea; that's not a currency area that makes sense. And the answer from Europe was, 'How is Missouri and Mississippi a currency area?' But the flaw in that was not recognizing the importance of mobility.

It's in our interests that the euro is a successful, strong currency.

Let's start with the euro. What on earth were we thinking? How could anyone with the faintest grasp of economics have believed it was anything other than sheer insanity to yoke together diverse national economies such as Greece, Ireland, Germany and Finland under a single exchange rate and a single interest rate?

The strongest institution in the hands of the European Union is the euro.

Our future begins on January 1 1999. The euro is Europe's key to the 21st century. The era of solo national fiscal and economic policy is over.

I want the whole of Europe to have one currency; it will make trading much easier.

We must stress that the euro has been beneficial to the European Union because, otherwise, in this context of international turmoil, every country would have to devalue their currencies.

If you put all the European countries together, we are the biggest economy in the world.

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.

It's political glue inside Europe to keep it together - the euro is the best thing going for it since the creation of the common market.

The single currency should allow the European Union, and therefore France, to balance its monetary strength with the United States. It should help us adjust to the development of China.

I think that the tying of the Montenegrin economy with the euro is a much better option than the adventure of printing our own currency.

The heart of the matter is that the very nature of the European Union, and of this country's relationship with it, has fundamentally changed after the coming into being of the European monetary union and the creation of the eurozone, of which - quite rightly - we are not a part.

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.