EURO: What is it and how does it work: Why the euro was created and how it works: a simple approach to Europe's single currency

By Stefano Calicchio

Why was the euro created and how does it work? What caused the difficulties of the European currency and what solutions are being adopted to stop the instability that is frightening the entire financial world? The dream of a single currency and a single market has been nurtured in Europe for many generations. The euro has brought Europe considerable advantages, but it has also profoundly changed the balance of European economies. In this essay we will start from the base, explaining what the Euro is and what are the causes that have put it in crisis. We will see what strategies have been adopted to overcome the most difficult and dramatic moments experienced by the economy since the birth of the euro, and we will explain what proposals and initiatives individual countries have put forward to remedy the difficult situation and to relaunch the role of the euro on the continent and in the world.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Stefano Calicchio
• Release date: Mar 19, 2021
• ISBN: 9791220279697

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Introduction

The dream of a single currency and a single market has been nurtured in Europe for many generations. When the euro first appeared a decade ago, few would have thought that it would evolve as it has today.

The euro was welcomed by the majority of European peoples as a great opportunity for integration, for the movement of goods and people, and for economic and social development. In simple terms, an opportunity for prosperity that had to be seized without hesitation.

Today we must unfortunately admit that things have not always turned out as we thought. The euro has indeed brought several advantages, but it has profoundly altered the balance of European economies, to the extent that it has developed a real systemic crisis.

The euro crisis was a crisis of the currency, but also a crisis of the nations that make up the European Union, with repercussions on the global balance of the economy; serious dichotomies and contradictions have arisen in the EU following the introduction of the single currency, to the extent that they have created a borderline situation to which a complete solution has yet to be found.

This small essay does not claim to be exhaustive or academic. Its aim is to simplify concepts that are often explained and disseminated with too many technicalities and terminology that lead to error and confusion. Given the objective, I would ask the