Just out of curiosity, how did the UK get out of having to switch to the Euro for its currency?
The UK (along with a few other nations in the EU) had an opt-out clause when they signed the Maastricht Treaty, that meant they weren’t obliged to adopt the Euro.
http://europa.eu/legislation_summaries/economic_and_monetary_affairs/institutional_and_economic_framework/l25060_en.htm
The UK negotiated an opt out when the Maastricht Treaty negotiations were happening.
Those were pretty interesting links. Thanks.
Who said that?! :eek:
Also, when new countries join the European Union, they don’t automatically become part of the Eurozone. For example, Hungary stilll uses the forint.
No, Who’s on first. Nobody said that.
Just as well, really…
They have committed themselves to joining the EMU by joining the EU though, even though that might still take several years if not more than a decade, in some cases. That said, Slovakia and Slovenia have already joined the Eurozone.
Which is how the old EU countries want it, too. The Euro makes things easier for those who appreciate it, but there’s no need to force it onto countries who don’t want it. And the Euro comes with strict rules about economy - stricter than the rules for joining the EU itself, so that one corrupt or instable country can’t wreck the whole Eurozone. So when a new country joins the EU - which in the last cases was always an Eastern European, former Communist, and thus run-down, democratically just starting one - it gets several years to get up to shape with regards to the rest of the established countries (often there’s a period of coming closer to the EU to fulfill the regulations, joining and building up further). Then, when the economy and democracy is stable and relativly corruptionfree and the population doesn’t vote against it, they can apply to join the Euro, too.
If the local currency fluctuates a lot and the cost of living is lower than the Euro, than despite the hassle of changing, this attracts tourists, e.g. Tschechia and Poland in the first few years were very cheap compared to Western Europe. This isn’t the case for Britain, though the pound has kept dropping all the time.
When doing normal trading, a fluctuating currency that has to be changed from the Euro can be a barrier. It also means higher banking costs, since all transfers between accounts and withdrawal from accounts with cards in Euro are free or low-fee, but into other currencies are more expensive.
Of course, if there’s a book or DVD on amazon.co.uk that’s not available elsewhere, people grit their teeth and eat the fee…
Also, countries like Sweden voted against it and are not forced to :