The End of the Euro begins with an overview of the birth of the euro itself. Understanding this history is essential to understand the anomalies built into the project from the beginning. These anomalies form the subject of chapter two, along with how they led to the situation that turned Greece, Portugal, and Spain into euro-destroying economic disaster areas. Chapter three shows how this was not an unforeseeable situation, as Europe’s history is filled with earlier failed attempts to build monetary unions. Chapter four is focused on Germany, by far the most important country within EMU, and why the chances of Germany leaving the union are much higher than is generally assumed. The book concludes with an analysis of what lies in wait for the remains of the monetary union — and for a deeply divided and troubled continent in general. Either the EMU transforms itself fundamentally or it disintegrates.
Johan Van Overtveldt is the editor in chief and managing director of
Trends, Belgium's leading weekly on business and economics. He has published several books in Dutch and contributes to
The Wall Street Journal Europe and other publications. Also the author of
Bernanke's Test and
The Chicago School, he lives in Brussels.
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