LONDON -- Now that the proposed European Union Constitution has been well and truly sunk (although parts may be salvaged), could the same fate happen to the euro currency?
Before this is dismissed as unthinkable, it should be remembered that the euro was originally introduced not as a monetary scheme but as a political one. It was depicted as a giant step toward the emergence of an integrated European bloc that would rival American hegemony generally, and as a currency that would compete with the almighty American dollar.
The ambitious scheme for a single European currency -- the euro -- was intended from the start to rest on three pillars: (1) monetary cohesion provided by the European Central Bank, (2) budgetary and fiscal solidarity assured initially by the so-called Stability and Growth Pact, and (3) eventual political cohesion and integration of the EU member states.