The Credit Crunch and Europe

New Year’s Day 2009 will see the tenth anniversary of the eurozone and it might be an appropriate moment for Britain to reopen the debate on adopting the euro, according to the distinguished economist Graham Bishop, who was the guest speaker at a lunch event put on by the London Europe Society in the London offices of the European Parliament today. Graham painted a pretty damning picture of the way Gordon ‘the prudent’ Brown has handled the economy along with his Chancellor Alistair Darling, the criticism made all the more stinging because of Graham’s gentle manner of exposition.

Quoting extensively from economic reports and forecasts produced by the European Commission, Graham showed how much worse Britain has been doing than the eurozone. The current account deficit is particularly worrying. Meanwhile, the pound has collapsed by nearly 25 per cent against the US dollar, making sterling look far less mighty than the British government has often proclamied.

On a different but equally concerning matter, Graham said he believed that the new US President, Barack Obama, might refuse to abide by any agreement George W Bush comes to with allied nations over the putative G20 proposals for a new Bretton Woods.