However, having extolled the successes of the euro “at home”, I do not want to create the impression that Europeans have a particular penchant for navel-gazing and that Europe is “obsessed with its own internal dynamics.” So now I will turn to the global impact of the euro, and notably its international role, a very fitting subject for this international symposium. III.
The international role of the euro  Back in 1998, before the launch of the euro, some policy-makers and economists predicted that the euro would quickly develop into an international currency. The new single currency zone would represent the world’s largest trading area and an economy with a combined gross domestic product of some € trillion.