Despite the default risks being raised by the sovereign debt crisis, European unification as a political project will remain intact, and the euro will continue to make sense as a single regional currency in an era when financial markets and global trade are interconnected, a senior European economist said in Tokyo recently.

"If the experience of the last three years teaches us something, it is that Europeans are fully aware of the challenges and want to address them to make sure that the euro area and the euro get out from the crisis stronger and more resilient," said Herve Carre, former director general of Eurostat, the statistics office of the European Union.

Carre, who was involved in the negotiations for launching the euro in the late 1990s as a member of the Economic and Financial Committee of the European Commission, was speaking on "Prospects for the EU economy and the euro," a lecture he gave Nov. 15 at the Keizai Koho Center.