Celebrating 25 years of the euro: a retrospective and future outlook

euronews (in English)

To commemorate 25 years of the single currency in Europe, we ask students, workers and a former president of the European Central Bank for their perspectives on the past, present and future of the euro and the eurozone.

Transcript

00:00 (speaking in foreign language)

00:03 - 20 countries, one single currency.

00:15 The euro is celebrating 25 years of existence

00:19 after weathering the storm of various crises

00:21 in a global pandemic and becoming one

00:23 of the world's most important currencies.

00:28 (speaking in foreign language)

00:32 In this episode, we also retrace the journey

00:52 with Jean-Claude Trichet, a former president

00:54 of the European Central Bank.

00:58 (speaking in foreign language)

01:02 Now a quarter of a century old,

01:06 the euro became a reality on January the 1st, 1999.

01:10 That historic day saw 11 EU countries

01:13 fix their exchange rates and entrust

01:15 monetary policy to the ECB.

01:18 Nine other countries have joined the eurozone since then.

01:21 Today, the euro is one of the most important

01:24 currencies in the world.

01:26 Around 350 million people use it every day.

01:30 And except for the US dollar,

01:32 no other currency is traded more on global markets.

01:36 So what does the future hold for this unique symbol

01:39 of European integration?

01:42 First, more countries could still join.

01:45 Several EU member states are legally required

01:47 to adopt the single currency once they've met

01:50 the necessary economic criteria.

01:52 New high-tech banknotes with updated designs

01:56 are in the pipeline.

01:58 And there are also big plans to launch

02:00 a digital euro very soon.

02:02 So why was the euro created in the first place?

02:08 And how did the currency survive

02:09 the numerous challenges it faced?

02:12 Let's delve into the crucial milestones

02:14 that mark the history of the single currency

02:16 with former ECB president Jean-Claude Trichet.

02:20 (speaking in foreign language)

02:24 (speaking in foreign language)

02:28 (speaking in foreign language)

02:32 (speaking in foreign language)

02:36 (speaking in foreign language)

02:40 (speaking in foreign language)

02:58 (speaking in foreign language)

03:04 (speaking in foreign language)

03:08 (speaking in foreign language)

03:12 (speaking in foreign language)

03:16 (speaking in foreign language)

03:19 (speaking in foreign language)

03:48 (speaking in foreign language)

04:18 Following these crises, the euro group created

04:20 the European Stability Mechanism

04:22 to assist member countries facing economic difficulties.

04:26 In the countries that adopted it,

04:28 the euro has changed people's daily lives,

04:30 making travel, purchases,

04:32 or studying abroad more accessible.

04:35 How do those born into the euro perceive the single currency

04:38 and what are their hopes for the future?

04:40 We met with a group of economic students

04:42 at the University of Nanterre.

04:45 (speaking in foreign language)

05:13 Like these students and according to the Eurobarometer,

05:16 79% of Europeans living in the eurozone

05:19 approve of the single currency for Europe

05:21 and 69% approve of it for their own country.

05:25 Among the most satisfied are Finland, Ireland, and Germany.

05:28 For the least satisfied, Croatia, Cyprus, and Italy.

05:32 We head to the Italian capital of Rome

05:35 where opinions on the European currency are mixed.

05:38 (speaking in foreign language)

05:42 (speaking in foreign language)

05:46 So are there winners and losers

06:02 among the members of the eurozone?

06:04 We put the question to economist Giovanni Ferrezi.

06:08 Monetary policy is never neutral.

06:10 In Italy, for example, economic growth

06:12 has been disappointing for many of us

06:15 for the past 25 or 30 years.

06:18 But of course, monetary policy

06:20 is one part of economic policy.

06:22 What is needed is to strengthen other aspects

06:25 and dimension of economic policy.

06:27 But of course, if you have one single monetary policy

06:30 without having one single fiscal policy, you miss a leg.

06:33 And so the process is incomplete.

06:35 Reforms such as unified fiscal policy

06:39 could enable the eurozone to better absorb economic shocks.

06:43 Since the start of the war in Ukraine,

06:45 the annual inflation rate in the eurozone

06:47 peaked at 10.6% in October 2022.

06:51 It then fell to 2.4% in November 2023.

06:55 The average annual inflation

06:57 since the creation of the euro, however, is 1.95%.

07:02 The ECB aims for financial stability

07:05 and keeping annual inflation below 2%.

07:08 And it will maintain its commitment in this direction,

07:10 assures Piero Cipollone.

07:13 The euro system has been able to react over the years

07:17 to the changing circumstances.

07:18 Let's all remember Mario Draghi's "Not whatever it takes",

07:22 which has changed and stabilized the market.

07:25 So the important thing is to be ready to read reality,

07:28 to understand how to adapt, to be ready to adapt.

07:32 The economy changes, society changes,

07:34 technology changes, people's habits change.

07:38 And more and more,

07:39 electronic payments are becoming a daily occurrence.

07:43 So the euro system must prepare for this.

07:45 And it is doing so thinking about the banknote of the future,

07:49 a digital banknote, the digital euro.

07:52 The digital euro will open a new chapter

07:55 in the history of the European currency.

07:57 (upbeat music)

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