Euro Quotes

The battle of the euro is being fought right now in Spain and Italy. The future of the euro is at stake in the next weeks.

In the 20 years before Greece end up with the Euro, efforts to improve competitiveness through exchange rate and adjustments resulted only in temporary gains of competitiveness.

I described the euro as a burning building with no exits and so it has proved for some of the countries in it.

A country like France now does two-thirds of its trade within the euro zone.

Indeed, the creators of the euro envisioned it as an instrument to promote political union.

I don't want euro bonds that serve to mutualize the entire debt of the countries in the euro zone. That can only work in the longer-term. I want euro bonds to be used to finance targeted investments in future-oriented growth projects. It isn't the same thing. Let's call them 'project bonds' instead of euro bonds.

Most of what needs to be changed in the euro zone can be done without treaty changes. The demand for treaty change is as political as it is legal and I don't think it's going to happen soon.

There have been times when I've reflected on my international career and just thought: 'Well that was a massive waste of time.' Sorry for sounding sour, but my best mate, David Beckham, got butchered after the World Cup in 1998, then my brother, Phil, after Euro 2000.

But I would bet that the euro continues to exist and that its importance as a global currency will likely increase.

The euro is our common fate, and Europe is our common future.

We have the EURO as a currency, which means a lot. It has not just stabilized the situation in Kosovo politically and economically, but also facilitated the direct contact that we have with Europe.

Chances are the movements of the euro as against the dollar will be relatively moderate.

I think it's often discussed that leaving the Euro is an option for Greece. I think this is really not an option.

The vast majority of Greeks accept the need for reform and want to keep our country inside the euro zone.

If the euro becomes a factor promoting Europe's drifting apart, then the foundation of the European project is destroyed.

Greece is a medium-sized country in Europe. Our debt accounts for only 2.5 percent of the total of all members of the euro zone.

I am personally convinced - and I think the Greek people share this belief in a fundamental way - that we can achieve fiscal consolidation more effectively and we can restore competitiveness in a more fundamental and permanent way within the euro area than outside.

The euro is a vital issue for Germany. There is no other country that derives as much benefit from the common domestic market and the monetary union as Germany.

Historically, the host nations do well in Euro 2000.

Unraveling the euro is a terrible thing. This is a 50-year endeavor to get this continent together and that's a wonderful endeavor.

So Europe's a big driver. And at one point, if the euro hadn't devalued, they would have been making as much money as the US with half the stores. Returns were higher.

I think that France has not made it clear enough recently to our German friends how important it is to introduce euro bonds as a tool against speculation. And how the necessary budget discipline needs to be accompanied by growth.

We are keen to stress that a strong euro zone is good for a strong United Kingdom. It's not for us to write the changes that the euro zone needs to embark on.

Greece has given Europe the opportunity to fix a defect in the euro zone, that is the fact that we did not have a fiscal union. Now steps have been taken to begin that process. And there is more solidarity from nation to nation, and that is a good thing. That has been Greece's gift to Europe.

You've had an extremely weak euro on the foreign exchange markets, you've had a very dubious policy being followed.

Giving Northern Europe a veto over Southern Europe's budgets will not hold a monetary union together. The euro zone will continue to need the weaker countries to stomach decades of high unemployment to grind down wages.

Our membership of the euro is a guarantee of monetary stability and creates the right conditions for sustainable growth. Our membership of the euro is the only choice.

Europe must dissipate any doubts over the euro, affirm that the euro is an irreversible project and act in consequence.

At this time - we're in a dramatic crisis - euro bonds are precisely the wrong answer. They lead us into a debt union, not a stability union. Each country has to take its own steps to reduce its debt.

Another question has been raised rather widely in Europe, in Japan as well as in the United States is what, to what extent will the euro become a reserve currency.