They (euro creators) should have asked Paul de Grauwe

         Gavyn Davies on Twitter:

"In a remarkable article written in 1998, Paul de Grauwe predicts the exact anatomy of the present euro crisis. Amazing!" (@gavyndavies May 16th 2012, 10:56 CET)

Paul de Grauwe: The euro and financial crises
(February 1998!)

"The European Commission did invite economists to present their views. It was a Darwinian process,” said Paul De Grauwe, professor of European political economy at the London School of Economics. “I was invited, but when I expressed my doubts I wasn’t invited anymore. In the end only the enthusiasts were left.”

Excerpt from NY Times 2012/05/16 

No wonder that today we experience that many problems with the common currency when its political creators ignored all economic reasoning in order to fulfill their own dreams about a common European currency. Even more so when countries such as Greece and Italy were allowed in despite reasonable doubts about their debt levels. Even more so astonishing that obviously nobody was looking more closely into the numbers provided by e.g. Italian and Greek authorities. By now we all know what happened with Greece and Professor Gustavo Piga gave evidence about Italian 'cooking the books' in BBC's Robert Peston's outstanding documentary The great Euro crash. 

Of course in this documentary there are many more politicians giving evidence from the 1990s how the Euro was created. British politicians were skeptic then and now have difficulties to hide their satisfaction not to have succumbed to the pressures from Brussels.

In general it's a pity that politicians have felt and some are still feeling superiority over economists and economic realities. A bit like those apparatchiks in former Eastern Europe ignoring economic realities until not only their economies but also political system finally imploded.

Maybe the negative experience of Mr de Grauwe in the 1990s should lead to the conclusion that well respected economists shouldn't be ignored anymore in finding solutions to fix the basic problems or design flaws of the Euro system. All those responsible for success or failure of the common currency should put economic sense before ego !