The EU countries which are suffering the most in the present World Economic Slump are France, Italy, Spain and Greece. The first observation is that these countries all have the EURO as their national currency.
This necessarily means that Brussels must intervene and propose tailored action for each country to enable them to respect the Golden Rules of the EUROZONE. The health of the EURO depends on this, but it is not easy to manage 17 different countries in the EU !
Non-EURO countries all have their own local currency which they constantly protect on the Money Markets. They can "ride-out" temporary variations or independently decide to depreciate their currencies as and when necessary.
Except during recent months, the EURO was defended stubbornly; one could even say "too stubbornly" ! History reveals that during the last 60 years the US dollar and the Pound Sterling have gently floated down in value (like many other currencies) and this has always helped exports.
Currencies depreciated but workers salaries increased. In the early 1950's a British worker earned less than 10 pounds sterling per week ! Today this does not even cover the cost of just going to work !
To make EURO rules more flexible would help, but how can this be done ?
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