In one breath they say that we should not adopt the euro – so that we can keep our own currency and hence retain the ability “to weaken the koruna in bad times” – and then criticise the Czech National Bank for doing exactly that in the bad times of 2013. They then happily add that Greece would have benefited from having its own currency and that Germany is profiting from the euro being weaker than the Deutschmark would have been. The same, however, doesn’t go for the Czech Republic after 2013. These endearing inconsistencies are present throughout the population. Here again, however, the Eurozone and its satellites offer parallels. The Danes have a fixed exchange rate against the euro (and previously had a fixed rate against the mark) and thus in effect “buy in” monetary policy from Frankfurt. They have their own notes and coins but not their own monetary policy. Note this fine “Scandinavian paradox”: the Danes have an opt-out from the euro following their 2000 referendum, yet they do not make their own monetary policy, nor did they before the euro was created, whereas the Swedes do not have an opt-out (although they have been trying not to fulfil the criteria and not to join ever since rejecting the euro in their 2003 referendum), yet they pursue autonomous monetary policy. I sometimes wonder whether the Czech sitting-on-the-fence approach is heading towards the Danish model. It wouldn’t be my choice, but it’s good to be prepared. 8.
Adopting the euro today would be like being the last to arrive at a party, one where all the food and drink has gone and the other guests are looking for someone to help pay the bill. The British journalist David Marsh, one of the foremost experts on the anatomy of the establishment of the 3/4  BIS central bankers' speeches  single currency, summed it up brilliantly: “the Eurozone doesn’t need new members, it needs new creditors”.1 And when such a consistent defender of mainstream economic thinking as the American Kenneth Rogoff announces that it is “fairly obvious that the euro was not necessary to the success of the EU, and instead has proved a massive impediment”2, even staunch supporters of the euro in our country probably took notice. The pragmatic Anglo-Saxon approach of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” suits the Czech Republic generally, and especially on this point. In the case of the euro, it holds true here more than anywhere else that we are not rich enough to afford to repeat the potential mistakes of others. We make enough of our own. Thank you for your attention. 1 Marsh, D.: “Řecko se zbaví eura, doufejme že kultivovaně,” Lidové noviny, 19 October 2011. 2 Rogoff, K.: “The eurozone must reform or die,” Project Syndicate, 14 June 2017. 4/4  BIS central bankers' speeches