Domingos Amaral on the need to reform the monetary union

The European Monetary Union started out with ambitious goals but has turned into a straitjacket, writes Domingos Amaral in the daily Correio da Manhã: "If prosperity is the Promised Land, then we haven't arrived yet. If budgetary discipline was one of the expected consequences, we have achieved exactly the opposite. ... Ten years after the common currency adventure began it is high time to start thinking about how to improve the system. ... The euro and its draconic regulations have turned Europe into a government cemetery. It is time we realised that the system doesn't work and that we can still change it. To drop the euro would be catastrophic, but so would leaving everything as it is. It's easy to blame the Greek and Portuguese governments for their irresponsible budgetary policy. But what about the Spanish, who didn't act irresponsibly but nonetheless have problems and are incapable of reacting to the crisis? The drama of the euro is just that: it punishes the good and bad equally but guarantees no one a way out of the crisis. Without a central political power that serves as a guarantee and without flexible rules the euro will remain a straitjacket for rich and poor alike."

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