Page 2 - ARUBA TODAY

A2 UP FRONT
Wednesday 10 May 2017

Euro dodges new crisis with Macron win, but needs fixes

By DAVID McHUGH Spain — got bailout loans 33 percent saying it’s bad. debt and needed a 78-bil- value to make themselves
BARRY HATTON from the other members Even in Greece and Portu- lion-euro bailout in 2011. more competitive in inter-
Associated Press in return for massive cuts gal, majorities support the Portugal’s finances are national trade. And there
LISBON, Portugal (AP) — Vi- to public spending. That euro. But the brutal bail- healing, but only after years was no large central trea-
tor Rodrigues remembers caused job losses, pushed out experience has left the of cutbacks, including sury to even out recessions.
when they told him in the families into poverty and kind of disenchantment Ro- wage freezes and pension Roberto Gualtieri, who
1990s that the euro would hurt company earnings. drigues conveys. cuts. The average monthly chairs the committee on
bring affluence. The owner economic and monetary
and only full-time employ- affairs in the European Par-
ee of the Leituria bookstore liament, thinks the need for
on a leafy street in Lisbon’s new steps is widely enough
Estefania district says he recognized that action
believed it. could follow the German
“Now I feel very disenchant- election in September.
ed,” the 47-year-old says at “I hope that after this elec-
his cash register. “The euro toral cycle, we will have
has served macro interests, the political conditions
not the man in the street. for providing more invest-
It’s been good for banks ments, more reforms, and
and for political careers better and more complet-
but it hasn’t brought us any ed economic and mon-
great benefits.” etary union,” Gaultieri told
The euro, the target of pop- The Associated Press.
ulist politicians who claim it “The great victory of Ma-
has inflicted undue eco- cron is an encouraging sig-
nomic pain on Europeans, nal in this direction.”
has a new lease on life af- There already have been a
ter Emmanuel Macron, a few fixes. Supervision of the
firmly pro-euro moderate, biggest banks was tough-
won the French presiden- ened by handing it to the
tial election this week. His In this photo taken Friday, May 5, 2017, Vitor Rodrigues picks up a book titled “Vencer o Medo”, or European Central Bank, to
rival, the right-wing Marine “To Defeat Fear”, by union leader Manuel Carvalho da Silva, while posing for photos at his book- prevent the cost of bailing
shop in Lisbon. Rodrigues remembers when they told him in the 1990s that the euro would bring
Le Pen, had wanted to pull affluence. The owner and only full-time employee of the Leituria bookstore said he believed it. them out from forcing gov-
France out of the bloc, with (AP Photo/Armando Franca) ernments to require bail-
likely painful consequences outs themselves, as in Ire-
for the currency. land’s case. The European
But even Macron ac- It pitted creditor coun- He says he and people he salary in the private sector, Central Bank took market
knowledges the need to tries like Germany and the knows have undergone also before tax, is around pressure off government fi-
strengthen and reform the Netherlands against the of- years of steady erosion of 1,100 euros ($1,200). nances by offering to buy
euro. ten resentful debtors. And their buying power. “Some- Worst hit has been Greece, the bonds of governments
He will find it, however, an even countries like France one in an average job, which saw its economy facing excessive borrowing
uphill battle. or Italy, large economies say middle management, shrink by a quarter. Shut- costs. Member countries
There are political logjams that are struggling to grow earns less now than they tered storefronts litter set up a bailout fund, the
making the currency more but did not need bailouts, did before the euro,” he downtown Athens. European Stability Mecha-
resistant to market crises have had to focus on pub- said. Whole families can be seen nism.
and to end its most painful lic spending cuts to meet Portugal hoped to gradu- lining up for free meals So far, the 19 governments
shortcoming — a reliance euro rules. ate from being a low-wage at a growing number of have not been willing to go
on crushing budget auster- The eurozone is growing economy with membership soup kitchens. What went farther. In particular, the
ity to fix countries whose fi- and many of these econo- of the euro in 1999. But the wrong? When trouble ar- idea of giving the European
nances and economies run mies are now doing bet- low interest rates that came rived, member countries Union central taxing and
into trouble. ter. The EU’s regular Euro- with its linkage to stronger found that joining the euro spending authority remains
Countries that ran into barometer poll shows 56 economies like Germany had taken away important anathema to Germany,
heavy debt — Greece, Ire- percent agree the euro is invited overspending. Por- safety valves. They could the biggest and most politi-
land, Portugal, Cyprus and good for their country, with tugal dug itself deep into not let their currency fall in cally powerful member. q