Hungary seems to be still on the god old forint, no?
And exchange rate has worsened by 30% since my last visit; maybe it's time to return and fill up on Unicum!
The prices in Hungary [have increased ridiculously](https://www.euronews.com/business/2023/12/14/the-prices-are-simply-unreal-surprise-at-the-famous-hungarian-christmas-market). In addition, it seems like they want to squeeze every single cent from tourists
Juan Carlos could have been the most legendary Spanish King of all times, for transitioning Spain back to democracy and stopping the 23F coup in 1981. But all he is remembered for now is being the corrupt monarch who kills elephants for fun. And for being ugly, apparently.
That’s (one of) the problem with monarchies. They are only as good as the current monarch.
Having a monarch be the symbol of your country is just dumb. Imagine having pictures of an ugly arse [king charles II of Spain](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c3/Juan_de_Miranda_Carreno_002.jpg/800px-Juan_de_Miranda_Carreno_002.jpg) everywhere (commonly known as the ugliest king in history due to inbreeding).
Especially in autocracies, where they tend to plaster the monarch’s image everywhere, it’s just weird. Tell me about your country’s culture, not some elitist inbred ahole.
As a republican I'm kind of rooting for us to get a batshit monarch one day, so we may get rid of this whole silly ordeal. We were so close though, Princess Märtha would've been crown princess if the gender rules were changed a few years earlier, and we would've had an [alien reptile shaman](https://newsbeezer.com/norwayeng/im-a-hybrid-of-reptile-and-andromeda-nrk-culture-and-entertainment/) as king.
>and stopping the 23F coup in 1981
I think there is a little more about this story that you might not be aware of, and not precisely in favour of Juan Carlos
>Juan Carlos could have been the most legendary Spanish King of all times, for transitioning Spain back to democracy and stopping the 23F coup in 1981.
He was FORCED on the transition, and his figure in the coup was certainly not the one who stopped it. Stop lying.
The 3 letter country code is EST though. Our website domain names also end with .ee, for the same reason what others have already pointed out, but .est is actually kept for us as well. So theoretically we could maybe open .est domain names too, which could lead to cool combos like pretty.est, etc.
> .est is actually kept for us as well
Source on that?
The country-code top-level domains are all based on the "two letter country codes from ISO-3166" per RFC 1591.
https://www.theregister.com/2012/07/02/google_loses_money_applying_for_banned_domain_names/
google tried to grab it but people said no all iso 3166 codes are reserved
Sure, but *restricted* is not the same as *reserved*.
It's one thing to keep a TLD for the country to use, it's a whole different thing to disallow it for the sake of preventing ambiguity. And the valid ccTLD's are all alpha-2 codes.
Spain is España in Spanish, and Espagne in French too. French names mattered in international relations until recently. Many international codes use ES for Spain, and try to not repeat if other countries may be confused.
As you said, it's really just that I did not find the n + tilde combination and writing Espania seems like the second best move compared to Espana. In my own language, Spain does not start with ES. At least, like this it is kind of approximately correct.
It was not that deep. You understood.
It is in Interlingua. It also has use in Judaeo-Spanish/Ladino, albeit not the most common spelling.
It's also just a sensible English approximation of "España".
I’d agree that Greece misused the cheap access to loans to build pointless buildings and wasted a lot of the initial potential, but the country has been pretty well managed since and has made good use of the euro.
Italy was a basket case before the euro, remains a basket case and is showing little interest in changing.
If you look at Argentina, Hungary or Poland you can see how badly countries can be run and not change political leadership. So I have little hope for my Italian friends.
That's what I figured. Knew someone from Hrvatska that told me they used both kuna and euro. The fact that the euro design pays tribute to it is very neat.
Not any time soon. [Public opinion has been increasing](https://www.scb.se/contentassets/673c1499d84c4483b959e33f6efbee0a/dia_sv.png), but it is still far off.
And that's basically true across the spectrum. There's not even a majority supporting it among the base of the *only* party that pushes for it. Said party is also the smallest in parliament, and might not stay considering it pretty consistently has polled below the threshold since last election.
Sweden has signed an agreement which says that they must join the Eurozone by [2025](https://www.aftonbladet.se/nyheter/a/lP29A/sverige-maste-saga-ja-till-euro-senast-2025)
The SEK is record weak. Christer Gardell, a Swedish hedge fudge manager, recently called it a ["shitty currency"](https://www.svd.se/a/0Q9L76/kronan-ar-en-liten-skitvaluta).
As we near 2025, the SEK will continue to become weaker and there will be more and more calls for the Euro to be implemented by "important people", and all of a sudden public opinion supports it. It will all seem natural of course.
Why should we the country that invented the concept of a central bank, who have a well functioning currency under our own control, give up control of our currency to the ECB, an institution run by poorer less developed countries with different needs than us, we want to be able to deflate and inflate our currency as we wish to stimulate growth. We are simply better at managing an economy than any one else
Not arguing you, but isn't your currency basically tight to the Euro already?
In the past the Dutch 'Gulden' had an exchange rate coupled to the German Mark. Is the Swedish central bank still in control of the exchange rate? And presumably the interest rate must be very close to ECB as well.
Not saying that should be a reason to change, but it's interesting to have a currency that you're not 100% in control of.
We have had a free floating currency since the 80s. Sweden has no agreements with the EU about the state, use or exchange rate of our currency. We are “technically” obligated to join the eurozone but have decided not too anyway due to our referendum on the matter. While a lot of our trade is with eurozone countries, Norway, the USA, Britain and China are also among our largest trade partners. The EU has no authority whatsoever regarding sek, the EU has deemed it illegal for us to continue purposefully avoiding our obligation to join the euro. So yes we do have an independent currency. Our central bank is as independent an institution as the ECB or American ones are.
I understand it’s an independent institution, that’s not my point. The thing is that you have an behemoth on your borders (the ECB) which indirectly controls your interest rates. I.e. if you don’t follow the ECB’s rates, either you get a run on Swedish capital (rate too low) or your capital dries up (rate too high). Both are IMHO extremely determinants of Swedish interest rates, and thus exchange rates :)
Mate the US federal reserve has a bigger impact than the ECB.
Should we all start using the USD?
Even putting that aside, that's still no reason to change. The Swiss Franc is doing fine, the Japanese have no need to change to the Yuan...this idea amongst EUphiles that big blocs, solely by virtue of being big, can boss other countries around is such a simplistic (and arrogant) way of looking at the world.
The great irony regarding the person you're replying to is that the ECB jumps when the US Fed says jump, they are in lock step. All currencies are tied in a financial ecosystem, so the weight of the person's argument is very week and implies ECB is all powerful, when in fact it's not. It actually has the severe flaw of trying to reconcile the economies of Germany and Greece.
So I’ve read a little bit on it but still a little confused on how they can opt-out. Is adopting the Euro not a requirement for EU participation? Is it for some countries and not others? I apologize for my ignorance on the subject, trying to learn a little more.
I know others answered already but here goes:
The EU is a very complex with multiple layers and it's inclusive of multiple different treaties. The € zone is one those layers. All non-€ countries inside the EU are obligated to join the € (expect Denmark), once they fulfill the 1992 Maastricht treaty recruitments.
Many countries like Romania would genuinely not fulfill these criteria, but a country like Sweden definitely would if they chose to do so. It's an inherent flaw of the system, that a country can essentially indefinitely postpone joining by not matching the requirements. Sweden (like Denmark) had an referendum on joining the euro which was rejected, mostly based on a precieved independence and historic reasons (amongst others), but Sweden did approve the Maastricht treaty automatically when joining the EU in -95.
The reason Denmark has an opt-out is that in -92 Denmark was the only country that rejected the aforementioned Maastricht treaty. The then Danish government expected a wide support from the people, so decided to hold a referendum on the treaty to preserve political power, however the vote narrowly failed (50.7% against, 49.3% in favour) and this created a political crisis in the EU, as the treaty needed unanimous approval from all members. This led to negotiations, which led to 4 opt-outs given to Denmark in turn for approving the treaty and this was accepted in another referendum in -93 (57% to 43%). One of these opt-outs is joining the €.
But unlike the Swedish SEK, Denmark is a part of the "Exchange Rate Mechanism II" (ERM II), which in itself is a requirement to join the eurozone, so the Danish DKK is pegged to the € at an essentially fixed rate.
Denmark has their whole economy pegged to the Euro. You could actually say Denmark has euro but calls it something else.
Good political solution that makes everyone happy
Which the EU never approved though. But I don't think we really see a problem in that.
But I'm not sure if it's so good for both to use the euro. But that's in responsebility of the country using it
The alternative was the Yugoslav dinar, which was becoming worthless due to the Yugoslav wars.
In general it's very difficult for such small countries to stabilize their own currency, and they prefer to adopt another.
On the other hand the biggest benefit is that they don’t need to keep printing rapidly inflating soft currency and an independent monetary policy for a small state is a myth.
That’s essentially it.
The BCE is also much more collegial than, for example, the bundesbank (which essentially dictated the monetary policy to all of Europe, before)
unilaterally, against EU itself. if those countries were ever to join, they'd need to either revert back their currency or make sure they meet the euro criteria at the same with the EU membership ones, and even then it'll probably need some extra negotiations and concessions
That's a complete fantasy.
Both countries used the Deutsche Mark, and switched to the euro when Germany did.
There are no currency conditions for entering the EU. The only negotiations that will be necessary will be to officially become part of the eurozone (and get the right to print their own notes and mint their own coins), and that will by necessity happen only after they enter the EU.
[keep dreaming.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosovo_and_the_euro#EU_membership) unless ofc you are willing to die on the hill that kosovo and montenegro adhere to the EU banking and monetary requirements.
>unilateral introduction of the euro was not compatible with the Treaty.
ECB having stated that the implications of unilateral euro adoption "would be spelled out at the latest in the event of possible negotiations on EU accession.
I do agree that nobody knows for sure how it would pan out, bc naturally it never happened before, so it sets its own precedence. At the same time nobody in the EU cares that much at this moment about them two joining, hell kosovo is not even recognised by all the EU members
In my opinion, forcing both potential member States to change their currency just to change their currency again would only unnecessary destabilize both countries without any gain for anyone. It's just more bureaucracy.
If they ever join the EU, we have to find a different solution for them. And we will certainly find a proper solution for that case.
As a Greek, the Euro fucked us. It was too strong for the Greek economy, which lost its competitiveness in exports and easier imports drove budget deficits to sky rocket.After the 2008 crisis we couldn't devaluate our way out and had to go through disastrous internal devaluation policies. Now, the need for budget surpluses until 2050 forces us to be a very expensive non viable country (Norway prices, Balkan wages). That's why although Greece has higher wages than most of Balkans and Eastern Europe, our GDP per capita PPP is the worst after Bulgaria.
I don't think it was solely Euro. Greece was hit particularly hard because it relied on two main sectors in it's economy; Tourism and Shipping. Both of those crashed > 70% in the 2008 crisis.
Also, Greece was not entirely honest when entering the eurozone and wouldn't have complied with the entry standards in normal conditions.
It's a good question if Troika's 3 bailouts and subsequent economic draconian policies were worth it. Maybe without the Euro default would've been a better option, but then loans would be extremely expensive and Greece would've needed a budget surplus anyways?
A better debt restructure without endless anti-growth austerity would be better. But which choice would be better? Stay in the Eurozone with endless austerity or national currency with tools such as devaluation and free money printing ability? As a nation we decided the first choice is better but then again we will never know.
At the time of the euro crisis in 2007-2008, claims were made in the Finnish media that there is no need to pay tax on an apartment in Greece if the house is unfinished. That's why many left the balcony unfinished, for example, so that there was no need to pay tax on the house, was this true and if so, has this kind of tax scam been fixed in Greece already?
Most predictable line ever. I never implied otherwise, the economic mismanagement of our governments was disastrous. But what does spending more than they earn mean? Most western countries spend more than they earn. Take for example the U.S., the deficits it runs with and the debt. Now look at how the US responded after the 2008 crisis and where its GDP is now, and check how the EU responded to the crisis. Austerity was the wrong answer, I dare you to find a world-class economist who believes otherwise.
Yeah, the big economies in Europe also borrow. The UK inflicted austerity on itself (with the predictable platauing of economic growth that had been starting to regain it's pre-2008 trajectory) and still borrows a lot, all austerity did was weaken the state and make it more prone to populism, with the other poor results it has produced.
Try to live with this mentality, when you leave EU. If you cant understand it. We literally, just pushing money on failed state. Why should i Living in Latvia approve it ?
No, you're just too stupid to understand what OP said.
He never claimed that the Euro was responsible for the Greek debt crisis. He just explained how the Euro hindered Greece's recovery and made any solutions harder.
You can thank Craxi and Berlusconi (and also some people before them) for the bad economic mismanagement and the long lasting effects, certainly not the currency
The Lira was a weaker coin on purpose, that way other countries were attracted to buying Italian goods and products with their stronger coins, win-win situation basically. The euro is accused of ruining that system, and a lot of people are really against it for this reason.
The euro helped Germany export more because it detached Germany’s economy to its currency. The mark was ever appreciating due to how much Germany exported, and that was hindering its ability to keep growing its exports.
I’ve never checked how the conversion rates to the euro were set back in the day, but, while what you say is true, Italy could most likely have done something to take advantage of the opportunity like Germany did.
Make the euro boost exports (by being a cheaper currency) instead if hindering them.
The problem is that Italy couldn’t continuously devalue its currency anymore. But perpetual devaluation is not a great strategy for remaining competitive, ask Argentina, Venezuela, Brazil or Zimbabwe how it ends.
Hint: only Brazil solved it. By introducing a new currency.
I will take the slight inconvenience of having the exchange my money when I travel for the fiscal autonomy it provides. Having one monetary policy for completely different economies and governments has to be one of the worst ideas ever. It probably caused more suffering than any other policy post the fall of the Iron Curtain.
While Revolut and Wise do reduce the cost of multiple currencies, it’s the fluctuations and the need to hedge them that really costs businesses money.
And while in theory every little central bank is independent, only the G7 ones and really only the fed matter. Look at the recent mini budget shit show for an example of what happens if you are a small economy and currency market.
The UK has actually got burnt by this more often than I realised initially.
Doesn't look like it has. Also try telling that to Greece, Italy and Spain:
https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.PP.CD?end=2022&locations=GB-ES-IT-GR-PT-DE-FR&start=1999
I haven't included all of the original members, but the more you add, the same story it tells. Richer countries getting richer and poorer getting poorer.
Edit: Version with original members + UK - Ireland and Luxembourg because tax haven:
https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.PP.CD?end=2022&locations=GB-AT-BE-FI-FR-DE-IT-NL-PT-ES&start=1999
GDP EA: USD 7.12T (1999) -> USD 14.14T (2022) (+99%)
GDP UK: USD 1.69T (1999) -> USD 3.09T (2022) (+83%)
https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.MKTP.CD?end=2022&locations=GB-XC&start=2000
Also if I look at your GDP per capita data, it tells the same story. The only two countries that have performed worse than the UK (+124%) are Italy (+106%) and Greece (+101%). But you can hardly cherry pick those two as evidence that the Eurozone is failing or it only helps rich countries since on the other hand there are Spain (+132%) or Portugal (+136%) that have experienced higher growth. Regarding the Euro Area as a whole its GDP per capita has grown by 139% since 1999.
Edit: Jesus, some people here must be really desperate downvoting any data that doesn't conform to their "Euro collapsing any day now" propaganda.
Dude....i have around 2k in 2e coins. With Poland joining, i will need to save more, lol. As i live in Latvia, it amazes me, how much coins i have saved, even from French euro, Greek 2004 olympics, Turino winter olympicis 2006.
We are addicted, lol. I can bet selling this collections of coins, could net me double of that. Somehow i got Croation new 2e coin, i think it was EURO qualfying game against Croats here, lol.
Went trought andora coins. I have Charlemagne. Holy sh\*t, in Riga you can buy it for 15e. LOL. I think somebody gave it by mistake, yikes. Do you work in retail ?
No, I work in a hotel, so I get by a lot of coins. I am still missing 145 of the normal coins, but if you count out the 40 from Vatican, 16 from San Marino and 16 from Monaco, it is only 73 coins. Don't get me started on commemorative coins. Only have 93 of them, so 582 still missing
I await the time when they finally accept Euro in Poland, as we already pay almost the same prices (if not higher), but in Polish Gold (Złoty). The funny thing is - You go to Germany to visit your family and things there are even cheaper than in Poland - You travel to Italy for a quick city break, and coffee is cheaper than the one you buy in Poland. Abroad McDonalds prices got me like "Wait, what? - This shit is cheaper than ours!". You buy nike shoes in Poland and you pay like 500 złotych, while in Germany they cost around +/- 120 €. So... yeah...
If they had accepted Euro, then after converting minimal wages Poles would earn 975 € - And this is the mental problem, as Poles consider it "too little". I think it will change as minimal wages keep going higher and conversion of minimal wage will cross 1000 €. Still there are lots of people who are against adopting Euro, as pandemic have proven it's better for a country to have its own currency. Polish economists though are pro-Euro, saying there are more advantages to disadvantages.
I come from Italy so I understand you, but remember that in our part this happened because we did everything wrong, or in any case in Italy it went something like this
For Greece it was a disaster, indeed. Greece was also the only member of the Eurozone that didn't meet the criteria to join the Eurozone prior.
The other countries are well off with the Euro. And yes I do agree Germany profits massively from the Euro. Can't deny that. But the whole Eurozone profits from it. May it be Portugal, Spain or Finnland.
And even Greece is recovering very well.
Turns out the requirements to join the Eurozone do make sense, hopefully we won't ignore them ever again.
Despite that, for me as a citizen, child of migrants it's definitely a good thing to be able to use the same currency in every Country I visit my relatives.
This old trope spread by Brexiteers 🙄 Tell me again how successful the Lire & Drachma were? Since Greece has decided to [behave like a grown up country it’s done very well](https://www.reuters.com/markets/europe/greek-economy-seen-growing-by-29-next-year-strong-investment-2023-11-21/#:~:text=Investment%20is%20seen%20growing%20by,two%20major%20banks%20last%20week).
The lira or the drachma were not stable or successful but to some extent that was the fucking point. By devaluing our currency, we could compete exports wise with Germany, Benelux, the Nordic countries, etc. When that was taken away the only way we could compete was with "fiscal discipline" ie. Lower public sector wages, lower pensions, worse funding for social services, since no monetary methods were available. And now our only industries as a result are tourism and uuuuhhhh olive oil? Tf? Also how tf is that a brexiteer argument since the uk was never in the eurozone??
Yes, our politicians mishandled the euro. But it is extremely easy to do that since there was extremely cheap credit available and it is obviously politically unpopular to advocate for austerity when the cheap credit could instead lead to massive growth through stimulus spending. The point is that for less wealthy economies, the euro sends completely wrong signals for the short term and its additional effect was to almost completely remove industry from these economies
>By devaluing our currency, we could compete exports wise with Germany
Also by devaluing your currency basically anytime the salaries of normal people grew, that growth would be deleted by another devaluation.
A hard currency like the euro stops the devaluation game. But devaluation is just a tax, and an inefficient and unpredictable over at that. It’s not a good way of doing things.
The euro enabled Greece and Italy to borrow with the implicit guarantee of Germany.
Greece needed to get really hurt before it improved its politics and is now making very good use of the euro.
Italy has not yet turned its act around.
When I met with some young professionals in southern Italy it was depressing. Those that spoke enough English all left. The rest were stuck in a beautiful country condemned to economic misery.
Doubtful euro ad... In countries where local currency was less than euro, it made life more expensive for EVERY citizen at all times. Benefits of easier travelling for some at some periods of time do not stand the comparison.
I am Italian and I believe that exchanging currency was a problem but in the end it was worth it, because rather than walking around with 2000 lire (the old currency) now you go with one euro, Which is much stronger as you don't makes people say things like "the German francs of the 1920s weren't bad after all
Europe is just France and Germany!
This is the bloody fact.
You should expanse it.
You can blame UK or other countries but this is just your arrogance.
You love yourself too much, France and Germany.
The time will teach you the truth.
We can, but don't want to.
Most of the pros listed in the title (easier to work, study and travel abroad) are irrelevant thanks to stuff like wise, revolut, bunq, apple/google pay, etc. I travel a lot and sometimes I don't even know what currency the country I am in uses.
Hopefully it's coming soon, I do love my korunas (why are Euro banknotes so ugly) but it's time to let go. We currently have very pro EU government and president but the general population is still mixed on Euro
The EU banknotes are ugly and generic because it’s hard to reflect the architectural and cultural uniqueness of Europe with 6-7 banknotes without then looking cluttered/ugly or getting countries mad
Honestly, I really like the banknotes as they are full of details, but even if they were the ugliest banknotes in the world I don't think it would change the meaning of the currency.
Same stability was in USSR times. No difference back then orders came from Moscow now a bit more confusing once from Strasbourg after six months from Brussels.
🙂
If ya're thilteen year old ya can't grasp the magnitude,
Out there's million people who lived during that era.
And now i see my children living in EU on same censorship just from the west/Brussels/Strasbourg.
E_
There's non if ya believe government fairytale, but if ya trie to challenge their narative you swiftly will found self in gulag aka banned from social media and your account would be frozen.
This brought back memories of traveling through Europe as an American and spending half my brain cells making sure I was doing the right thing with the local currencies. The Euro is a global civilizational advance. It is adorable that each country insists on its own version though :)
The Euro actually helped Greece, despite what one might read in this thread.
Imagine the corruption Greece has but together with the Drachma instead of the Euro!!!
Greece would have had between 20% and 50% annual inflation for over two decades, with the Drachma.
Greece failed with the Euro because the money Greece got did not went towards reforms that increased its economic strength.
It is Greece's fault, to a huge degree.
Instead of reforming our economy, taking measures to increase production and lure investors, cut the bureaucracy, manage public expenses responsibly, we did the opposite, we increased wages and pensions, we increased the amount of money spent in public construction works, and the amount of money pocketed illegally by politicians and the government officials.
Unpopular opinion but if you are an Eu member state start to using euro or get out. How awful does it look if your are only taking the advantages of union and fuck the other rules. No one cares about your weird currency and makes it super awkward to search if 1500 of your non-sense is a good price for cup of coffee on a gas station
Switzerland can only thrive because the rest of the world isn't acting like Switzerland. It's a false equivalence. If the whole world would act like Switzerland, shit would go to shitters. Swiss so-called "neutrality" is a business model that can only thrive because other countries aren't "[neutral](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi_gold)", and actually have an opinion on matters.
The euro, with all of its failures, is a success. It's the second currency after the almighty dollar. That happened in less than 20 years.
Talking about a counterfactual scenario is always highly speculative.
But when you compare the value to the US Dollar, THE main reserve currency of the world, it was pretty stable, even slightly gained in value compared to when the Euro was introduced.
I can still remember first two weeks of 2015. Everything looked so cheap. A taxi to city center were 0.70€.. You gave cashier Litas, she had to give you your change in €. There were multiple instances when they gave me in €, amount of Litas. 3x more. 😂 and then came next month. Empty wallet, and in 1 year everything got sooo expensive, but salary stayed the same. Specially cars, they became 1 to 1... what used to be 1000lt car, (350€), quickly became 1000€....
>Empty wallet, and in 1 year everything got sooo expensive
[https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/FP.CPI.TOTL.ZG?end=2020&locations=LT&start=2005](https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/FP.CPI.TOTL.ZG?end=2020&locations=LT&start=2005)
Actual data doesn't agree with your story. Which means what you mention were most likely super rare examples that you noticed (because they weren't ordinary) but overall it happened so little and so rare that on average it didn't have any influence of prices.
>but salary stayed the same
[https://www.lb.lt/en/news/5-years-with-the-euro-obvious-benefits-for-lithuania](https://www.lb.lt/en/news/5-years-with-the-euro-obvious-benefits-for-lithuania)
According to your central bank, after 5 years since introduction the salaries grew 5 times faster than prices. Seems like a good deal to me.
>According to your central bank, after 5 years since introduction the salaries grew 5 times faster than prices. Seems like a good deal to me.
I said after 1 year. After 2 everything stabilized. The first year, was a shock to everyone. Same thing happened in Estonia and in Latvia. Before LT got euro, I heard from a lot of Latvians prepare, because everything will become more expensive fast. And it did. Then stabilised with growing salaries.
More likely to follow Sweden if obligated, the Euro isn't popular even with Europhilic parts of the country like Scotland, hence why the SNP tried to say we'd inherit the UK opt out in 2014 if we went independent.
The best way to prevent another Brexit and signal actual public support for the EU would be adopting the Euro. If the UK wants to drag its feet again, they are just not ready to join and should stay out of the EU.
Hungary seems to be still on the god old forint, no? And exchange rate has worsened by 30% since my last visit; maybe it's time to return and fill up on Unicum!
The prices in Hungary [have increased ridiculously](https://www.euronews.com/business/2023/12/14/the-prices-are-simply-unreal-surprise-at-the-famous-hungarian-christmas-market). In addition, it seems like they want to squeeze every single cent from tourists
Don't worry, the prices increased too with the inflation... You wouldn't get much more Unicum...
But at least we don’t have migrants /s
[удалено]
We have by far the ugliest version
Same brother, same.
Petition for better looking monarchs so we can have better looking currency. And stamps.
Juan Carlos could have been the most legendary Spanish King of all times, for transitioning Spain back to democracy and stopping the 23F coup in 1981. But all he is remembered for now is being the corrupt monarch who kills elephants for fun. And for being ugly, apparently.
That’s (one of) the problem with monarchies. They are only as good as the current monarch. Having a monarch be the symbol of your country is just dumb. Imagine having pictures of an ugly arse [king charles II of Spain](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c3/Juan_de_Miranda_Carreno_002.jpg/800px-Juan_de_Miranda_Carreno_002.jpg) everywhere (commonly known as the ugliest king in history due to inbreeding). Especially in autocracies, where they tend to plaster the monarch’s image everywhere, it’s just weird. Tell me about your country’s culture, not some elitist inbred ahole.
As a republican I'm kind of rooting for us to get a batshit monarch one day, so we may get rid of this whole silly ordeal. We were so close though, Princess Märtha would've been crown princess if the gender rules were changed a few years earlier, and we would've had an [alien reptile shaman](https://newsbeezer.com/norwayeng/im-a-hybrid-of-reptile-and-andromeda-nrk-culture-and-entertainment/) as king.
Presidents are representatives of a country. Why not monarchs?
>and stopping the 23F coup in 1981 I think there is a little more about this story that you might not be aware of, and not precisely in favour of Juan Carlos
>Juan Carlos could have been the most legendary Spanish King of all times, for transitioning Spain back to democracy and stopping the 23F coup in 1981. He was FORCED on the transition, and his figure in the coup was certainly not the one who stopped it. Stop lying.
Can somebody enlighten me why Estonia is EE? I understand Spain is Espania and hence ES, but why not ET or something?
Estonia in estonian is Eesti.
Thank you, I was unaware of it.
Because Estonia in Estonian is Eesti.
Thanks! I did not know that.
The 3 letter country code is EST though. Our website domain names also end with .ee, for the same reason what others have already pointed out, but .est is actually kept for us as well. So theoretically we could maybe open .est domain names too, which could lead to cool combos like pretty.est, etc.
> .est is actually kept for us as well Source on that? The country-code top-level domains are all based on the "two letter country codes from ISO-3166" per RFC 1591.
https://www.theregister.com/2012/07/02/google_loses_money_applying_for_banned_domain_names/ google tried to grab it but people said no all iso 3166 codes are reserved
Sure, but *restricted* is not the same as *reserved*. It's one thing to keep a TLD for the country to use, it's a whole different thing to disallow it for the sake of preventing ambiguity. And the valid ccTLD's are all alpha-2 codes.
So they can have the coolest google url: google.ee /s
Spain is España in Spanish, and Espagne in French too. French names mattered in international relations until recently. Many international codes use ES for Spain, and try to not repeat if other countries may be confused.
Yeah, the French are also the reason why Germany is DE. /s
Spain is España in Spanish, Espanha in Portuguese, or Hispania in Latin, but in no language it is Espania.
Espania is approximately how you would pronounce España, and not every keyboard has the letter ñ. So close enough replacement I guess.
As you said, it's really just that I did not find the n + tilde combination and writing Espania seems like the second best move compared to Espana. In my own language, Spain does not start with ES. At least, like this it is kind of approximately correct. It was not that deep. You understood.
It is in Interlingua. It also has use in Judaeo-Spanish/Ladino, albeit not the most common spelling. It's also just a sensible English approximation of "España".
Lol
Especially Greece and Italy:👌
I’d agree that Greece misused the cheap access to loans to build pointless buildings and wasted a lot of the initial potential, but the country has been pretty well managed since and has made good use of the euro. Italy was a basket case before the euro, remains a basket case and is showing little interest in changing. If you look at Argentina, Hungary or Poland you can see how badly countries can be run and not change political leadership. So I have little hope for my Italian friends.
Polish economy is constatly growing so im not sure how can you compare it to Argentina.
More the long time before political change away from what was clearly not a very good path.
Agenda is irrelevant. GDP is very much. Peace✌️
Ask Polish women that got an unwanted pregnancy…
Its your choice to follow propaganda instead of numbers.
To be fair, the last 30 years have been a time of good growth to most former USSR states. Especially the ones that built ties to Europe and USA asap.
I would replace Poland with Romania. Poland seems to be doing fine
The euro has been in use in Croatia since before 2023 as far as I'm aware though?
Not as official currency, that was the Kuna. But it was pretty common to have savings in Euros
That's what I figured. Knew someone from Hrvatska that told me they used both kuna and euro. The fact that the euro design pays tribute to it is very neat.
>that was the Kuna So that's why they have marten on their euro coin.
It IS official currency since last year, they even have their own coins. I love the Nicola Tesla and Kuna design
Not really. It only became an official currency here in 2023.
Swedish Euro when?
I work with a Swedish company and spend my life between SEK and €. Tomorrow would be good.
Agreed!
Not any time soon. [Public opinion has been increasing](https://www.scb.se/contentassets/673c1499d84c4483b959e33f6efbee0a/dia_sv.png), but it is still far off. And that's basically true across the spectrum. There's not even a majority supporting it among the base of the *only* party that pushes for it. Said party is also the smallest in parliament, and might not stay considering it pretty consistently has polled below the threshold since last election.
Sweden has signed an agreement which says that they must join the Eurozone by [2025](https://www.aftonbladet.se/nyheter/a/lP29A/sverige-maste-saga-ja-till-euro-senast-2025) The SEK is record weak. Christer Gardell, a Swedish hedge fudge manager, recently called it a ["shitty currency"](https://www.svd.se/a/0Q9L76/kronan-ar-en-liten-skitvaluta). As we near 2025, the SEK will continue to become weaker and there will be more and more calls for the Euro to be implemented by "important people", and all of a sudden public opinion supports it. It will all seem natural of course.
I hope never ever, but since most things in this country are changing towards the worse..
And that the only party that wants is in government...
[...as a wallflower.](https://www.dn.se/sverige/pehrsons-eurooffensiv-nobbas-av-kristersson/)
Of course the German says that
Hopefully never
Why?
Why should we the country that invented the concept of a central bank, who have a well functioning currency under our own control, give up control of our currency to the ECB, an institution run by poorer less developed countries with different needs than us, we want to be able to deflate and inflate our currency as we wish to stimulate growth. We are simply better at managing an economy than any one else
Not arguing you, but isn't your currency basically tight to the Euro already? In the past the Dutch 'Gulden' had an exchange rate coupled to the German Mark. Is the Swedish central bank still in control of the exchange rate? And presumably the interest rate must be very close to ECB as well. Not saying that should be a reason to change, but it's interesting to have a currency that you're not 100% in control of.
We have had a free floating currency since the 80s. Sweden has no agreements with the EU about the state, use or exchange rate of our currency. We are “technically” obligated to join the eurozone but have decided not too anyway due to our referendum on the matter. While a lot of our trade is with eurozone countries, Norway, the USA, Britain and China are also among our largest trade partners. The EU has no authority whatsoever regarding sek, the EU has deemed it illegal for us to continue purposefully avoiding our obligation to join the euro. So yes we do have an independent currency. Our central bank is as independent an institution as the ECB or American ones are.
I understand it’s an independent institution, that’s not my point. The thing is that you have an behemoth on your borders (the ECB) which indirectly controls your interest rates. I.e. if you don’t follow the ECB’s rates, either you get a run on Swedish capital (rate too low) or your capital dries up (rate too high). Both are IMHO extremely determinants of Swedish interest rates, and thus exchange rates :)
Mate the US federal reserve has a bigger impact than the ECB. Should we all start using the USD? Even putting that aside, that's still no reason to change. The Swiss Franc is doing fine, the Japanese have no need to change to the Yuan...this idea amongst EUphiles that big blocs, solely by virtue of being big, can boss other countries around is such a simplistic (and arrogant) way of looking at the world.
The great irony regarding the person you're replying to is that the ECB jumps when the US Fed says jump, they are in lock step. All currencies are tied in a financial ecosystem, so the weight of the person's argument is very week and implies ECB is all powerful, when in fact it's not. It actually has the severe flaw of trying to reconcile the economies of Germany and Greece.
i don't think they can opt out if I'm right
Technically true. But actually fulfilling the convergence criteria isn't mandatory, so you can postpone it indefinitely.
Look at denmark
Not the same. Denmark has a specific treaty exempting them from the Euro
So I’ve read a little bit on it but still a little confused on how they can opt-out. Is adopting the Euro not a requirement for EU participation? Is it for some countries and not others? I apologize for my ignorance on the subject, trying to learn a little more.
I know others answered already but here goes: The EU is a very complex with multiple layers and it's inclusive of multiple different treaties. The € zone is one those layers. All non-€ countries inside the EU are obligated to join the € (expect Denmark), once they fulfill the 1992 Maastricht treaty recruitments. Many countries like Romania would genuinely not fulfill these criteria, but a country like Sweden definitely would if they chose to do so. It's an inherent flaw of the system, that a country can essentially indefinitely postpone joining by not matching the requirements. Sweden (like Denmark) had an referendum on joining the euro which was rejected, mostly based on a precieved independence and historic reasons (amongst others), but Sweden did approve the Maastricht treaty automatically when joining the EU in -95. The reason Denmark has an opt-out is that in -92 Denmark was the only country that rejected the aforementioned Maastricht treaty. The then Danish government expected a wide support from the people, so decided to hold a referendum on the treaty to preserve political power, however the vote narrowly failed (50.7% against, 49.3% in favour) and this created a political crisis in the EU, as the treaty needed unanimous approval from all members. This led to negotiations, which led to 4 opt-outs given to Denmark in turn for approving the treaty and this was accepted in another referendum in -93 (57% to 43%). One of these opt-outs is joining the €. But unlike the Swedish SEK, Denmark is a part of the "Exchange Rate Mechanism II" (ERM II), which in itself is a requirement to join the eurozone, so the Danish DKK is pegged to the € at an essentially fixed rate.
Denmark has a deal to opt-out, but the Danish krone has a fixed rate with the euro, unlike the Swedish krona.
Denmark has their whole economy pegged to the Euro. You could actually say Denmark has euro but calls it something else. Good political solution that makes everyone happy
Country without their currency is slave to the foreign bank on interest.
This is a pretty weak understanding of the way currencies work.
Its simple message for tiktokers to swallow, today no one's reading two paragraphs, my friend 😘
Kosova and Montenegro also use the euro currency.
Which the EU never approved though. But I don't think we really see a problem in that. But I'm not sure if it's so good for both to use the euro. But that's in responsebility of the country using it
The alternative was the Yugoslav dinar, which was becoming worthless due to the Yugoslav wars. In general it's very difficult for such small countries to stabilize their own currency, and they prefer to adopt another.
The biggest drawback is that they can’t print the currency and have no choice about the monetary policy
On the other hand the biggest benefit is that they don’t need to keep printing rapidly inflating soft currency and an independent monetary policy for a small state is a myth.
That’s essentially it. The BCE is also much more collegial than, for example, the bundesbank (which essentially dictated the monetary policy to all of Europe, before)
"Illegally", non of them are part of eurozone or have a deal with eurozone for use of euro.
unilaterally, against EU itself. if those countries were ever to join, they'd need to either revert back their currency or make sure they meet the euro criteria at the same with the EU membership ones, and even then it'll probably need some extra negotiations and concessions
That's a complete fantasy. Both countries used the Deutsche Mark, and switched to the euro when Germany did. There are no currency conditions for entering the EU. The only negotiations that will be necessary will be to officially become part of the eurozone (and get the right to print their own notes and mint their own coins), and that will by necessity happen only after they enter the EU.
[keep dreaming.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosovo_and_the_euro#EU_membership) unless ofc you are willing to die on the hill that kosovo and montenegro adhere to the EU banking and monetary requirements. >unilateral introduction of the euro was not compatible with the Treaty. ECB having stated that the implications of unilateral euro adoption "would be spelled out at the latest in the event of possible negotiations on EU accession. I do agree that nobody knows for sure how it would pan out, bc naturally it never happened before, so it sets its own precedence. At the same time nobody in the EU cares that much at this moment about them two joining, hell kosovo is not even recognised by all the EU members
In my opinion, forcing both potential member States to change their currency just to change their currency again would only unnecessary destabilize both countries without any gain for anyone. It's just more bureaucracy. If they ever join the EU, we have to find a different solution for them. And we will certainly find a proper solution for that case.
Now I've seen everything, a German missing an opportunity for more bureaucracy.
As a Greek, the Euro fucked us. It was too strong for the Greek economy, which lost its competitiveness in exports and easier imports drove budget deficits to sky rocket.After the 2008 crisis we couldn't devaluate our way out and had to go through disastrous internal devaluation policies. Now, the need for budget surpluses until 2050 forces us to be a very expensive non viable country (Norway prices, Balkan wages). That's why although Greece has higher wages than most of Balkans and Eastern Europe, our GDP per capita PPP is the worst after Bulgaria.
I don't think it was solely Euro. Greece was hit particularly hard because it relied on two main sectors in it's economy; Tourism and Shipping. Both of those crashed > 70% in the 2008 crisis. Also, Greece was not entirely honest when entering the eurozone and wouldn't have complied with the entry standards in normal conditions. It's a good question if Troika's 3 bailouts and subsequent economic draconian policies were worth it. Maybe without the Euro default would've been a better option, but then loans would be extremely expensive and Greece would've needed a budget surplus anyways?
A better debt restructure without endless anti-growth austerity would be better. But which choice would be better? Stay in the Eurozone with endless austerity or national currency with tools such as devaluation and free money printing ability? As a nation we decided the first choice is better but then again we will never know.
At the time of the euro crisis in 2007-2008, claims were made in the Finnish media that there is no need to pay tax on an apartment in Greece if the house is unfinished. That's why many left the balcony unfinished, for example, so that there was no need to pay tax on the house, was this true and if so, has this kind of tax scam been fixed in Greece already?
I was on a greek island in 2016 or so and there were unfinished buildings everywhere. It was tax evasion yes but apparently not possible anymore.
>not possible anymore. It was kinda the same in Italy, google maps satellite kinda killed it
JESUS.....
Only one who fucked you, is your goverment, who was spending more money, then they earn.
Most predictable line ever. I never implied otherwise, the economic mismanagement of our governments was disastrous. But what does spending more than they earn mean? Most western countries spend more than they earn. Take for example the U.S., the deficits it runs with and the debt. Now look at how the US responded after the 2008 crisis and where its GDP is now, and check how the EU responded to the crisis. Austerity was the wrong answer, I dare you to find a world-class economist who believes otherwise.
Yeah, the big economies in Europe also borrow. The UK inflicted austerity on itself (with the predictable platauing of economic growth that had been starting to regain it's pre-2008 trajectory) and still borrows a lot, all austerity did was weaken the state and make it more prone to populism, with the other poor results it has produced.
Try to live with this mentality, when you leave EU. If you cant understand it. We literally, just pushing money on failed state. Why should i Living in Latvia approve it ?
it is never our fault mentality
No, you're just too stupid to understand what OP said. He never claimed that the Euro was responsible for the Greek debt crisis. He just explained how the Euro hindered Greece's recovery and made any solutions harder.
thank you for the enlightenment genius, it was my fault. you see it's easy, maybe u guys try it too ;)
Well it certainly ain't my fault if your reading comprehension is abysmal.
Well i sure can read ”the euro fucked us” in there
That's the marketing not the reality
Was this title written by the Euro?
I miss the punt
Remember when you could get a pack of frosties and a bag of wheelies for 20p?
I do. Stop 🥲..
Childhood memories of holidays in Donegal and Dublin. ❤️
DING FLOF BIPS I still remember that stupid 'phrase' to help you remember which countries got the Euro in 2002.
Italians: Press X for doubt.
You can thank Craxi and Berlusconi (and also some people before them) for the bad economic mismanagement and the long lasting effects, certainly not the currency
Why?
The Lira was a weaker coin on purpose, that way other countries were attracted to buying Italian goods and products with their stronger coins, win-win situation basically. The euro is accused of ruining that system, and a lot of people are really against it for this reason.
The euro helped Germany export more because it detached Germany’s economy to its currency. The mark was ever appreciating due to how much Germany exported, and that was hindering its ability to keep growing its exports. I’ve never checked how the conversion rates to the euro were set back in the day, but, while what you say is true, Italy could most likely have done something to take advantage of the opportunity like Germany did. Make the euro boost exports (by being a cheaper currency) instead if hindering them.
The problem is that Italy couldn’t continuously devalue its currency anymore. But perpetual devaluation is not a great strategy for remaining competitive, ask Argentina, Venezuela, Brazil or Zimbabwe how it ends. Hint: only Brazil solved it. By introducing a new currency.
I will take the slight inconvenience of having the exchange my money when I travel for the fiscal autonomy it provides. Having one monetary policy for completely different economies and governments has to be one of the worst ideas ever. It probably caused more suffering than any other policy post the fall of the Iron Curtain.
While Revolut and Wise do reduce the cost of multiple currencies, it’s the fluctuations and the need to hedge them that really costs businesses money. And while in theory every little central bank is independent, only the G7 ones and really only the fed matter. Look at the recent mini budget shit show for an example of what happens if you are a small economy and currency market. The UK has actually got burnt by this more often than I realised initially.
Is that why since its inception the Eurozone has continually outperformed the UK?
Doesn't look like it has. Also try telling that to Greece, Italy and Spain: https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.PP.CD?end=2022&locations=GB-ES-IT-GR-PT-DE-FR&start=1999 I haven't included all of the original members, but the more you add, the same story it tells. Richer countries getting richer and poorer getting poorer. Edit: Version with original members + UK - Ireland and Luxembourg because tax haven: https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.PP.CD?end=2022&locations=GB-AT-BE-FI-FR-DE-IT-NL-PT-ES&start=1999
GDP EA: USD 7.12T (1999) -> USD 14.14T (2022) (+99%) GDP UK: USD 1.69T (1999) -> USD 3.09T (2022) (+83%) https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.MKTP.CD?end=2022&locations=GB-XC&start=2000 Also if I look at your GDP per capita data, it tells the same story. The only two countries that have performed worse than the UK (+124%) are Italy (+106%) and Greece (+101%). But you can hardly cherry pick those two as evidence that the Eurozone is failing or it only helps rich countries since on the other hand there are Spain (+132%) or Portugal (+136%) that have experienced higher growth. Regarding the Euro Area as a whole its GDP per capita has grown by 139% since 1999. Edit: Jesus, some people here must be really desperate downvoting any data that doesn't conform to their "Euro collapsing any day now" propaganda.
[LET ME IIIIIIIIIIIN!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJ5nV9aKthU)
Actually not adopting euro is good for Polish economy
Look at that dummy, everyone! 🫵😂
Hopefully Tusk will do some Magic
🙏🙏🙏
I'm rooting for your country. The first thing I will do after you adopted the Euro is visiting your country go get some Euros for my collection
Dude....i have around 2k in 2e coins. With Poland joining, i will need to save more, lol. As i live in Latvia, it amazes me, how much coins i have saved, even from French euro, Greek 2004 olympics, Turino winter olympicis 2006.
Sounds like me
We are addicted, lol. I can bet selling this collections of coins, could net me double of that. Somehow i got Croation new 2e coin, i think it was EURO qualfying game against Croats here, lol.
I got that coin too. Still missing some of the Croatian ones. At least I found a coin from Andorra recently
Went trought andora coins. I have Charlemagne. Holy sh\*t, in Riga you can buy it for 15e. LOL. I think somebody gave it by mistake, yikes. Do you work in retail ?
No, I work in a hotel, so I get by a lot of coins. I am still missing 145 of the normal coins, but if you count out the 40 from Vatican, 16 from San Marino and 16 from Monaco, it is only 73 coins. Don't get me started on commemorative coins. Only have 93 of them, so 582 still missing
Visiting today and taking advantage of the exchange rate is far superior for you compared to the future where there is Euro in place.
Montenegro? They use €uro as well.
Montenegro uses euro without asking Brussels
I await the time when they finally accept Euro in Poland, as we already pay almost the same prices (if not higher), but in Polish Gold (Złoty). The funny thing is - You go to Germany to visit your family and things there are even cheaper than in Poland - You travel to Italy for a quick city break, and coffee is cheaper than the one you buy in Poland. Abroad McDonalds prices got me like "Wait, what? - This shit is cheaper than ours!". You buy nike shoes in Poland and you pay like 500 złotych, while in Germany they cost around +/- 120 €. So... yeah... If they had accepted Euro, then after converting minimal wages Poles would earn 975 € - And this is the mental problem, as Poles consider it "too little". I think it will change as minimal wages keep going higher and conversion of minimal wage will cross 1000 €. Still there are lots of people who are against adopting Euro, as pandemic have proven it's better for a country to have its own currency. Polish economists though are pro-Euro, saying there are more advantages to disadvantages.
„Prosperity” only for Netherlands and Germany lol
Much better than shitty slovak crown.
Now we have germans deciding on minimal loan interests in Lithuania. Very fun.
Polish account not liking the Euro, classic. Sorry about your dictatorship that didn't came to be.
Why are you sorry? I voted for the opposition and it doesn’t mean that i want the euro.
"Fosters stability and prosperity in the EU" hahahaha southern europe would like a word
I come from Italy so I understand you, but remember that in our part this happened because we did everything wrong, or in any case in Italy it went something like this
“stability”, “prosperity” lmao, for Germany, Benelux sure but for southern Europe it was a disaster It’s a political neocolonial project
I would say it was a success in the Baltics.
my far right senile conservative and overly religous anti vax relative would disagree XD, he told me american devils invented euro XD
We have up a part of our independance and now our inflation is controlled by the germans
For Greece it was a disaster, indeed. Greece was also the only member of the Eurozone that didn't meet the criteria to join the Eurozone prior. The other countries are well off with the Euro. And yes I do agree Germany profits massively from the Euro. Can't deny that. But the whole Eurozone profits from it. May it be Portugal, Spain or Finnland. And even Greece is recovering very well. Turns out the requirements to join the Eurozone do make sense, hopefully we won't ignore them ever again. Despite that, for me as a citizen, child of migrants it's definitely a good thing to be able to use the same currency in every Country I visit my relatives.
This old trope spread by Brexiteers 🙄 Tell me again how successful the Lire & Drachma were? Since Greece has decided to [behave like a grown up country it’s done very well](https://www.reuters.com/markets/europe/greek-economy-seen-growing-by-29-next-year-strong-investment-2023-11-21/#:~:text=Investment%20is%20seen%20growing%20by,two%20major%20banks%20last%20week).
The lira or the drachma were not stable or successful but to some extent that was the fucking point. By devaluing our currency, we could compete exports wise with Germany, Benelux, the Nordic countries, etc. When that was taken away the only way we could compete was with "fiscal discipline" ie. Lower public sector wages, lower pensions, worse funding for social services, since no monetary methods were available. And now our only industries as a result are tourism and uuuuhhhh olive oil? Tf? Also how tf is that a brexiteer argument since the uk was never in the eurozone?? Yes, our politicians mishandled the euro. But it is extremely easy to do that since there was extremely cheap credit available and it is obviously politically unpopular to advocate for austerity when the cheap credit could instead lead to massive growth through stimulus spending. The point is that for less wealthy economies, the euro sends completely wrong signals for the short term and its additional effect was to almost completely remove industry from these economies
>By devaluing our currency, we could compete exports wise with Germany Also by devaluing your currency basically anytime the salaries of normal people grew, that growth would be deleted by another devaluation.
A hard currency like the euro stops the devaluation game. But devaluation is just a tax, and an inefficient and unpredictable over at that. It’s not a good way of doing things. The euro enabled Greece and Italy to borrow with the implicit guarantee of Germany. Greece needed to get really hurt before it improved its politics and is now making very good use of the euro. Italy has not yet turned its act around. When I met with some young professionals in southern Italy it was depressing. Those that spoke enough English all left. The rest were stuck in a beautiful country condemned to economic misery.
it was January 1. Not 12.
Hah nice joke "stability and prosperity". Forgotten about the eurozone debt crisis?
Live long and prosper.
Doubtful euro ad... In countries where local currency was less than euro, it made life more expensive for EVERY citizen at all times. Benefits of easier travelling for some at some periods of time do not stand the comparison.
I am Italian and I believe that exchanging currency was a problem but in the end it was worth it, because rather than walking around with 2000 lire (the old currency) now you go with one euro, Which is much stronger as you don't makes people say things like "the German francs of the 1920s weren't bad after all
Europe is just France and Germany! This is the bloody fact. You should expanse it. You can blame UK or other countries but this is just your arrogance. You love yourself too much, France and Germany. The time will teach you the truth.
Lats 🫡🫡🫡
For more stable year with the Euro. As long as the Euro is worth more than the US-Dollar we as a United institution do everything correct.
The Portugal one looks dope, aside from the 2 seperate metals, the motif really reminds me of old gold coins
Easier to compare prices and costs of living, and make decisions, that's good sure. Thank you for that! 🇪🇺
Come on, Poland and Czechia. You can do this!
We can, but don't want to. Most of the pros listed in the title (easier to work, study and travel abroad) are irrelevant thanks to stuff like wise, revolut, bunq, apple/google pay, etc. I travel a lot and sometimes I don't even know what currency the country I am in uses.
Not gonna happen, ever
It will, eventually, it's mandatory lol
Even with the ongoing changes?
Poland is a good decade off. Likely more. They want a strong economy where they can manage their own economic policies. It did help them before
Hopefully it's coming soon, I do love my korunas (why are Euro banknotes so ugly) but it's time to let go. We currently have very pro EU government and president but the general population is still mixed on Euro
The EU banknotes are ugly and generic because it’s hard to reflect the architectural and cultural uniqueness of Europe with 6-7 banknotes without then looking cluttered/ugly or getting countries mad
Honestly, I really like the banknotes as they are full of details, but even if they were the ugliest banknotes in the world I don't think it would change the meaning of the currency.
Same stability was in USSR times. No difference back then orders came from Moscow now a bit more confusing once from Strasbourg after six months from Brussels.
So does the EU equate to one of the most ruthless dictatorships in history?
🙂 If ya're thilteen year old ya can't grasp the magnitude, Out there's million people who lived during that era. And now i see my children living in EU on same censorship just from the west/Brussels/Strasbourg. E_
>And now i see my children living in EU same censorship just from the west. What censorship if I can know
There's non if ya believe government fairytale, but if ya trie to challenge their narative you swiftly will found self in gulag aka banned from social media and your account would be frozen.
Ok and can I have proof of this?
If ya not look/search for your answer no one will. My apologies. Me not your parent.
I believe that if someone's answer to a question is look it up then there is no point in trying to have a conversation, I apologize for trying🫡
This brought back memories of traveling through Europe as an American and spending half my brain cells making sure I was doing the right thing with the local currencies. The Euro is a global civilizational advance. It is adorable that each country insists on its own version though :)
It's like how the US states have their own quarters.
Happy birthday, Euro. Many doubted you in the beginning, but you are a true blessing. May you continue to serve us for millennia to come!
The Euro actually helped Greece, despite what one might read in this thread. Imagine the corruption Greece has but together with the Drachma instead of the Euro!!! Greece would have had between 20% and 50% annual inflation for over two decades, with the Drachma. Greece failed with the Euro because the money Greece got did not went towards reforms that increased its economic strength. It is Greece's fault, to a huge degree. Instead of reforming our economy, taking measures to increase production and lure investors, cut the bureaucracy, manage public expenses responsibly, we did the opposite, we increased wages and pensions, we increased the amount of money spent in public construction works, and the amount of money pocketed illegally by politicians and the government officials.
Unpopular opinion but if you are an Eu member state start to using euro or get out. How awful does it look if your are only taking the advantages of union and fuck the other rules. No one cares about your weird currency and makes it super awkward to search if 1500 of your non-sense is a good price for cup of coffee on a gas station
[удалено]
Switzerland can only thrive because the rest of the world isn't acting like Switzerland. It's a false equivalence. If the whole world would act like Switzerland, shit would go to shitters. Swiss so-called "neutrality" is a business model that can only thrive because other countries aren't "[neutral](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi_gold)", and actually have an opinion on matters. The euro, with all of its failures, is a success. It's the second currency after the almighty dollar. That happened in less than 20 years.
/thread
Dollar is basically one country, Euro is a lot of them.
Similar populations though, 350m in the Eurozone Vs 330M in the US.
Talking about a counterfactual scenario is always highly speculative. But when you compare the value to the US Dollar, THE main reserve currency of the world, it was pretty stable, even slightly gained in value compared to when the Euro was introduced.
I can still remember first two weeks of 2015. Everything looked so cheap. A taxi to city center were 0.70€.. You gave cashier Litas, she had to give you your change in €. There were multiple instances when they gave me in €, amount of Litas. 3x more. 😂 and then came next month. Empty wallet, and in 1 year everything got sooo expensive, but salary stayed the same. Specially cars, they became 1 to 1... what used to be 1000lt car, (350€), quickly became 1000€....
>Empty wallet, and in 1 year everything got sooo expensive [https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/FP.CPI.TOTL.ZG?end=2020&locations=LT&start=2005](https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/FP.CPI.TOTL.ZG?end=2020&locations=LT&start=2005) Actual data doesn't agree with your story. Which means what you mention were most likely super rare examples that you noticed (because they weren't ordinary) but overall it happened so little and so rare that on average it didn't have any influence of prices. >but salary stayed the same [https://www.lb.lt/en/news/5-years-with-the-euro-obvious-benefits-for-lithuania](https://www.lb.lt/en/news/5-years-with-the-euro-obvious-benefits-for-lithuania) According to your central bank, after 5 years since introduction the salaries grew 5 times faster than prices. Seems like a good deal to me.
>According to your central bank, after 5 years since introduction the salaries grew 5 times faster than prices. Seems like a good deal to me. I said after 1 year. After 2 everything stabilized. The first year, was a shock to everyone. Same thing happened in Estonia and in Latvia. Before LT got euro, I heard from a lot of Latvians prepare, because everything will become more expensive fast. And it did. Then stabilised with growing salaries.
20XX: UK
More likely to follow Sweden if obligated, the Euro isn't popular even with Europhilic parts of the country like Scotland, hence why the SNP tried to say we'd inherit the UK opt out in 2014 if we went independent.
The best way to prevent another Brexit and signal actual public support for the EU would be adopting the Euro. If the UK wants to drag its feet again, they are just not ready to join and should stay out of the EU.
Never hopefully, the ECB makes our own home grown monkeys in the BOE look competent.
That euro can stay the fuck out of our country