The Pound and the Euro

It seems that today the British Pound has just about reached parity with the Euro... and is still pretty weak against the US Dollar. Given that I've spent 3 out of the last 5 weeks either in the Euro-zone or the USA this means that I've spent more money than I would have done this time last year and am pretty pissed at the die-hard little-Englanders who continue to prevent Britain from moving forward in the world.

I was, however, heartened to read an article at the BBC News website that speaks of a town in Sweden who are to become a "Euro-City" despite their country's refusal to join the Euro (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7798060.stm) and wondered how long it might be before the rest of Sweden, Denmark and Britain see sense.

Clearly this is not the right time for Britain to join the Euro, the exchange rate is currently so bad that it would make little sense (except for other Europeans) but in my mind the case for joining is as strong as ever. As our banks still collect the loose change from our accounts every time we use a debit card to buy from our Euro-zone neighbours (either on-line or in-country) and as visitors to the UK (often in transit) don't spend their loose change because it's the wrong currency we, both personally and a nation, continue to suffer.

If we had joined the Euro in the first wave, back in 2002, I have no doubt we would have been better off today. The British Pound was a strong currency in it's own right, such as the German Mark was, and joining the Euro at that stage would have fixed a good, solid rate between us and our largest trading partners helping our industry plan years in advance without having to account for currency fluctuations. The strength of the Pound would have also added to the strength of the new currency... strength in numbers you might say, or united we stand. In any case, if Britain was now part of the Euro then the weakness against the US Dollar might not be quite as bad for us, in fact we may have even added to the strength of the Euro since it's inception.

But no, we had to stick with the Pound. And now we have foreign companies either moving out of the UK or not bothering in the first place; we have businesses going to the wall (granted, some because they weren't particularly good in the first place); we have less money in our pockets to spend at those businesses that are still in business and their prices will rise given many of their products are imported from the Euro-zone!

I'll leave this entry with a quote from a Swede who would be happy to drop his country's own currency and it's much the same as my opinion:

"I'm a very proud Swede and none of my identity or pride is in the Swedish crown. It's in other, more important, stuff."