Nido

With the £ being at another record low against the € today, the Eurozone having higher interest rates and looking a little stronger, some are predicting that the exchange rate will reach a 1:1 parity before too long.

If this happens will it be time to seriously look at adopting the €? After a shakey start it's grown to look like a strong currency, and certainly seems to benefiting some of the member countries under the credit crunch.

Initally I was very against the move when the € was first introduced, but the more we see of it the better option it looks. Let alone for the ease of use, I travel about in Europe quite a bit and the way you can go from France to Italy to Germany in succesive weeks without having to even think about changing currency is a real bonus

What's the SN view?

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

I've been expecting this to happen a few months ago when the £ started plummeting.

I thought as soon as it starts getting close to the euro, we'll dump the £.

Remember Labour's goal was always to go to Euro "when the time and conditions are right"

Wurzel

iTrader: (1)

I think it is fantastic as my euros are going alot further in rip off britain at the moment, and with your 15% VAT aswell it is going to be a very merry christmas for me

Geezer

I'm all for the Euro if we reach 1:1, would make it considerably harder for retailers to fleece us like decimilisation and other countries when they went to Euro.

My hols are in the Euro zone, would make life much easier.

Also, as more countries move to euro for oil, makes it easier for us too

Geezer

Iain Young

Just think how much it would cost to change all those parking meters, vending machines, atms, etc though. Not sure the country can afford it in the current climate (although that's not stopped them before)...

SunnySideUp

I have some France Telecom shares ..... priced in Euro's.

Should do well out of this exchange rate if I sell?

tanyatriangles

iTrader: (2)

I predicted a 1:1 parity around Christmas 2008 in October 2007

OK, we can go in now without risking being ripped off by unscrupulous traders, BUT:

When the € first came into being, the true rate was £1= €1.62, or €1 costing approximately 62p

If we DO reach a situation where €1 costs £1, we have effectively lost 60% of the value of our currency.

Yes, exports are cheaper, but as we are a net IMPORTER, that's not going to be worth a lot. And EVERYTHING we now buy in € costs 60% more, and that's BEFORE raging inflation

We were scared off joining by a few bankers who made Billions a day changing money, and appealed to the patriotic side of people, coming out with such arrant nonsense as "we will lose the Queen's head off our currency". Only off the notes, idiots! and TBH, so what?

cster

Wouldn't it make more sense to join when the pound is strong?

stilover

Was thinking the exact same thing. New Labour will start banging on about the Euro any time soon. Probably stating that the UK need to join to avoid a depression.

r32

Problem is its not just to make travel easier, we get locked in on many issues, the most important being the loss of any ability to manage interest rates, whilst Gordon doesnt seem to be doing too well if we lost the ability to change rates we would be in an even worse situation. Perhaps like Italy, stone broke but unable to make any changes to improve the situation. The best tool for curing inflation or deflation is interest rate control........

scoobynutta555

Joining the Euro might be a compulsory T&C from the IMF if they bail us out next year.

jacrobat

With the current projected level of Government borrowing, I would think that the UK would breach the two fiscal tests for Euro entry -

Annual government deficit:
The ratio of the annual government deficit to gross domestic product (GDP) must not exceed 3% at the end of the preceding fiscal year. If not, it is at least required to reach a level close to 3%. Only exceptional and temporary excesses would be granted for exceptional cases.
Government debt:
The ratio of gross government debt to GDP must not exceed 60% at the end of the preceding fiscal year. Even if the target cannot be achieved due to the specific conditions, the ratio must have sufficiently diminished and must be approaching the reference value at a satisfactory pace.

Before the bank bailouts etc our debt to GDP was 2.5% and gross government debt was 42.6%. I am sure I read that gross government debt was set to rise about 60% after the stimulus package measures were taken into account.

sarasquares

iTrader: (1)

earlier this year we were considering buying a farm house in Spain. we visited a few places and felt pretty confident that we were doing the right thing, funny how things can change so quickly

my dad has a property in Majorca that he wants to sell but i cant see him doing that for a while now.

i want to get out of this country

ronjeramy

iTrader: (1)

What about the loss of our identity? Personally I can't see any benefits, if I remember rightly some of the European countries finding things expensive after going into the euro.

tanyatriangles

iTrader: (2)

What loss of identity would that be? Perhaps we'll not be called Britain any more, but Euroland? No? Neither have any of the other countries lost THEIR identities

As for things being expensive, they have inflation too, but THEIR governments don't keep telling them it's 2% when everyone knows it's nearer 10%

And if you travelled over there during, just before, or just after, the changeover, you'd have seen the complicated measures put in place by various European governments to STOP profiteering.

No, the supposed huge raise in their cost of living was yet another Lying Labour lie, like the one they STILL feed us about the € being a weak currency compared to the £

RJM25R

iTrader: (1)

hMMM, ACCORDING TO MY CALCULATIONS, A €1 would be 81p from that exchange rate. Obviously, you aren't part of this thread:

https://www.scoobynet.com/non-scooby...s-science.html

ronjeramy

iTrader: (1)

Our forefathers fought in two world wars to stop Europe become one country so to speak, run buy the Germans, as the EU is today. I'm certainly no Labour supporter, but if and when they are voted out hopefully, the pound will start to recover, it just needs time.

I can remember going into spain in the late 90's and getting about 250 pesetas to the pound, which got you a hell of a lot, the best rate i can remember the Euro was about €2.50 which wouldn't buy you a pint of local larger now in spain.

ronjeramy

iTrader: (1)

£1 divided by €1.62 = 0.61728395 so that's 62p rounded up

nik52wrx

According to a conversation between Gordon B and Sir Alan Sugar the pm said he had no plans to go for the euro.
To quote:
AS: If the pound gets to one euro then we are in the euro, aren’t we?
PM: No, no, no.
AS: So I can still keep all my pounds and fivers?
PM: Absolutely, and you can use them to buy your Christmas presents this year, and next year, and beyond.
AS: I hope we haven’t been too tough on you.
PM: I think your career as an interviewer is just beginning.

Lets see.

hux309

Id vote not to change, as much as the pound is getting a hammering the same will happen to the euro at some point in it's life, everything balances out in the end.

stevebt

iTrader: (8)

Taken from the BBC news website, It looks like they think euroland will start to crash soon !

scoobynutta555

I'd imagine the UK economy will be out of any downturn before the EU and therefore the pound will rise again.

JTaylor

ronjeramy

iTrader: (1)

James, can i blame my IPhone for the poor grammar? I think people got the gist of it though.

Gordo

Having control of our own economy is the most important thing - being locked into Euro interest rates wouldn't be good (even though the current government has made a complete mess of that control!) and London remaining as an independent financial centre is essential as the powerhouse of our economy.

No to the Euro from me (and, like other posters, I'm confused why people think it would be a good idea when our currency is currently so weak!)

Gordo

dpb

Well be .78 soon from 1.78 6 years ago

marky1

Personally I think it's well overdone and I can't see parity. These economic journalists calling parity were the same people calling $200 oil when it was at $145 and $2.50 to sterling when it was trading above $2. When you start to see newspapers calling something day after day it's time to do the opposite.

jacrobat

Interest rates are basically set for London and the South East economy and so there is an argument that locking into Eurozone rates may benefit other parts of the UK and even things out.

scoobynutta555

Care to explain this theory?