This is getting particularly painful to watch. Every day we read the newspapers and the online news reports and still the Euro is there. Today we read about its failing ability to perform well against the likes of the British pound and the US dollar. But even though it is sinking – and we all know it is sinking – somehow it is still remaining afloat.
It’s hard to know what will happen next with the currency, and yet it remains front and centre in the world of currency. It has a marked effect on the exchange rates of other currencies and yet it trails its feet, and we wonder how much lower it can go.
To be truthful even with the best of intentions and the best efforts to create a solution to the growing debt crisis, there is no real confidence in the markets. Any solution is seen to be not enough, and seen to be too little too late to save the currency and the zone it is valid for. It makes us wonder whether 2012 will herald the demise of the Euro, and a return to the national currencies used by those countries that adopted the Euro in the first place.
So could we see a return to the drachma, the peseta and many more besides? It would certainly be a nostalgic time if we did. Indeed most surveys indicate that the people of these countries (and others) never wanted the Euro in the first place, and they would much rather have their own currencies back now. Could we see this occurrence in the near future?
If we did it would be interesting to see whether these reinstated currencies would be worth more to the people holding them than the Euro was before them. It was said that once you swapped your currency for the Euro you could never go back. But as we are seeing now, this is a distinct possibility for many. Perhaps it isn’t a question of if it happens, but when it happens.