It seems that “the people who matter in Britain” believe we should now join the euro. That, at least, is the view of José Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission. Leaving aside his presumption, “there speaks the authentic voice of the euro-elite for whom common-or-garden voters are an irritating irrelevance”, says The Daily Telegraph. Besides, “who has been talking to Barroso”? asks The Times’s Philip Webster. The suspicion is that, following his return to government, Lord Mandelson has persuaded Brown it’s time “to look again”.
No doubt about it, says the Daily Mail’s James Chapman. The new business secretary has just said that “our aim, our goal, should be to enter the single currency”, which was the first mention of the euro by a Cabinet minister in years. What’s more, “Lord Mandelson was the loudest cheerleader for the single currency during his stints in Tony Blair’s cabinet”.
But what of his boss, Brown? Reuters reports a UK government ‘spokesman’ saying “we have no plans to change our position on the euro”. Just as well, according to Toby Helm in The Guardian: “not only could it be political suicide for Brown to announce a referendum on entry (which he is bound by manifesto commitments to do), he would almost certainly lose”. Not to mention the fact that our European partners would probably not be willing to have us, given the volatile economic climate and the present exchange rate, “and they all have a veto on a new member state’s entry”.
Politics aside, there’s another big snag. Under the Maastricht convergence criteria, successful applicants should have a debt/GDP ratio not exceeding 60%. “The Treasury admits the ratio is heading towards 57%, but that excludes PFI projects, pension liabilities and the bail-out of the banks”, says The Daily Telegraph – “add in those and our debt ratio is already double the limit”. Even Mandy “will struggle to finesse that away”.