EMU Half-Way Through: The Euro, the Regions and their Public Administrations - An Assessment

Heichlinger, Alexander (2000) EMU Half-Way Through: The Euro, the Regions and their Public Administrations - An Assessment. EIPASCOPE, 2000 (2). pp. 1-4.

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Abstract

The Financial Times wrote on 23 April 1999 "The introduction of the euro will transform Europe... but what is still unclear is whether the euro’s influence will be primarily regional or whether it will come to rival the dollar as an international currency". More than one year later, and in light of the euro’s weakness against the dollar as well as the marginal usage and awareness of the new currency in daily life in Euroland, one might come to the conclusion that the euro is indeed primarily of regional, provincial or even local influence and importance. Of course the on-going strength of the North American market with its very favourable economic data does not give the new European currency much room for manoeuvre. However, what is much more significant, and very well expressed in this statement, is that the introduction of the euro has and will further alter the landscape in which the regions, i.e. the regional and local territories, operate. Further to the gradual blurring of national boundaries (e.g. through the Single European Act, the implementation of the Single Market, EMU etc.), the regions will become a more important protagonist in Europe in terms of their participation in legal, social and political processes, and especially in economic terms.

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