The answer from the euro to its detractors. Financial circles and certain economists are beginning to be concerned. If the euro continues its appreciation in relation to the dollar, European exports will become more difficult. An economic daily stated a few days ago: "too strong a euro would impede the gentle European recovery". Finished, therefore, the choir of lamentation as to the weakness of the European currency; the fear is now that it should become too strong.
But it is not the opinions of the financial circles that I ant to stress. Each monetary development has positive effects in one sense and inconveniences in the other: and, anyhow, bankers will never say that they are wholly satisfied. What I would like to stress is the attitude of Euroskeptics and all those who yesterday were only too pleased to announce that the euro had lost a quarter, third even of its value since its inception (claim, moreover, that was totally wrong). For some, the partisan fury and hate against Europe are such that they did not conceal their joy at the weakening of their country's currency (such is the euro for all countries of its zone).
Newspaper information has also changed in nature: it was very visible, nearly always on the front page in large headlines, when the euro weakened in relation to the dollar; now we only find small, technical articles. But this has nothing to do with Euroskepicism, but simply the old journalistic rule by which bad news deserves more space than good.
Euroskeptics will alter nothing. The truth is quite simply that the euro's exchange rate will continue to fluctuate depending on circumstances without that having an influence on its real value for citizens, which, for its part, is determined, by the rate of inflation. Thanks to the euro, Europe is much less sensitive to the fluctuations of the dollar. It has not to lose interest in it, the ECB has said so and repeated on several occasions, but the euro zone has acquired an autonomy that did not exist before. Neither blaring anti-Europeans (Le Pen type) nor distinguished anti-Europeans (Martino type) will change anything.
(F.R.)