Also telling you that the promise made to the investors and savers as well as to the people of Europe had been kept, that the new currency is as credible, as confidence-inspiring, as solid as a store of value as were the previous most credible national currencies. What would have been the reaction of the audience ?
Well, considering how cautious a number of analyses were at that time, one would most probably have thought that it was a fairy tale. The second lesson is that monetary integration is accompanied, and supported, by an increasing degree of economic and financial integration. We have often heard the question: what’s so special about a monetary union among countries that are ready for it?