THE TELEGRAPH: Europe's "man in the street" was misled for years over the vast political and economic implications of the creation of "Euroland", Herman Van Rompuy has admitted.
The EU's president told a selected audience of civil servants and businessmen that the Greek debt crisis and euro zone bailout had come as a nasty shock to ordinary Europeans.
He said the public was not made aware of the full social and economic implications of the currency before it was created.
"Nobody ever told the proverbial man in the street that sharing a single currency was not just about making peoples' lives easier when doing business or travelling abroad, but also about being directly affected by economic developments in the neighbouring countries," he said on Tuesday evening. "Being in the 'Euro zone' means, monetarily speaking, being part of one 'Euroland'."
Public anger over the cost of supporting other euro zone governments, so far totalling £470 billion in taxpayer funded loans or guarantees, has created new political instability, especially in Germany.
Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor and her coalition government, lost its parliamentary majority two weeks ago following a furious reaction to a Greek bail-out that cost Germany's taxpayers £19 billion.
Public rage has since grown after Chancellor Merkel was last week forced to push through another £105 billion in loan guarantees intended to shore up southern European governments that most Germans regard as victims of their own profligate spending. >>> Bruno Waterfield in Brussels | Wednesday, May 26, 2010
