Gleðilegt ár, sérstaklega Slóvakía!

Um leið og ég óska landsmönnum öllum til sjávar og sveita, út um borg og bí, hérlendis sem erlendis gleðilegs árs og gæfu góðrar, vil ég sérstaklega óska íbúum Slóvakíu til hamingju með daginn.

Í dag verður Slóvakía formlega 16 meðlimur Evru-svæðisins og evran verður þeirra gjaldmiðill - einungis rúmum fjórum árum eftir að Slóvakía hlaut aðild að Evrópusambandinu.

Hér má sjá fréttatilkynningu Seðlabanka Evrópu í tilefni dagsins. Sem góðum embættismönnum sæmir er ekkert verið að missa sig í tilfinningasemi heldur taka þeir Joe Friday úr Dragnet sér til fyrirmyndar "Just the facts!":

Following the adoption of the euro by Slovakia, Národná banka Slovenska becomes a full member of the Eurosystem, the central banking system of the euro area, which comprises the ECB and, as of today, the 16 national central banks (NCBs) of the EU Member States that have adopted the euro. In accordance with the Protocol on the Statute of the European System of Central Banks and of the European Central Bank, Národná banka Slovenska has paid up the remainder of its contribution to the capital of the ECB and transferred its contribution to the foreign reserve assets of the ECB.

The integration of Slovak monetary financial institutions (MFIs) into the euro area banking system on 1 January 2009 was already taken into account in the publication of the euro area liquidity needs and in the benchmark allotment on 29 and 30 December 2008. Slovak counterparties in the Eurosystem will be able to participate in the Eurosystem’s open market operations announced after 1 January 2009.

Hér má ennfremur sjá frétt sem birt er á Time.com í dag í tilefni tíu ára afmælis evrunnar sem er einnig haldið hátíðlegt í dag. Staða gjaldmiðilsins metin óvenju sterk og verkefnið sem slíkt vel heppnað. Þeir hafa víst ekki haft samband við þá betur upplýstu hér á Íslandi sem eru sí og æ að spá því að myntsamtarfið liðist í sundur innan skamms, alveg rétt strax, bíðiði bara!

Heimsendaspámenn nútímans.

Í greininni segir m.a. eftirfarandi:

Before the euro, a financial crisis in Europe went hand-in-hand with currency woes: a run on weaker currencies, heavy intervention by central banks and finally a collapse of the parity system. "I've lived through currency devaluations, and they are fraught with anxieties," says Hans Martens, chief executive of the European Policy Centre. "But the way the euro coped with the financial crisis was absolutely great. You have a big island of stability, with small nations protected when the big waves became rough."

The euro's tenth anniversary will see the euro zone take on a 16th member, Slovakia. A further eight other central and eastern European countries have set themselves the goal of joining within the next six years, including Poland, whose political establishment dropped its longtime opposition after a recent run on the Polish zloty. The euro has found some other unexpected converts, too, thanks to the financial crisis. The Danes voted against joining the euro zone in 2000, but they are set to hold another referendum in March. Iceland — not even an E.U. member — is pondering "unilateral euroization" after seeing its krona plunge nearly 80% against the euro between September and October.

And the biggest prize of all, Britain, is said to be warming to the euro.

Það má hins vegar velta því fyrir sér hvort Time sé raunverulegur fréttamiðill. Hugsanlega eru þetta bara einhverjir trúboðar!

PS: Bendi jafnframt á þennan pistil Oliver Kamm á Times Online. Niðurlag greinar hans á allt eins við um Ísland eins og Bretland:

It used to be argued that the greater importance of the financial services sector to the UK economy made euro membership unsuitable for us. Surely no one can now maintain that a common European approach to banking supervision and capital adequacy is a threat. The weaknesses of the UK financial system are glaring and need to be remedied. If the UK were in the euro, then it could advance effective European regulation, while opposing impractical schemes that would simply distort markets.

The idea that the UK economy has characteristics that are distinctive from those of Europe has been undermined. The greater importance of our housing sector is a crippling weakness, not an idiosyncrasy. The peculiarly destructive cycle of boom and bust in the UK is a product of specific policy errors. Joining the euro will not work miracles, but it would make easier the task of repair.