Since its establishment twenty years ago, the euro has had a sulphurous reputation. The single currency would have contributed to the increase in prices, to the detriment of consumers. Two decades later, The Süddeutsche Zeitung seeks to disentangle the true from the false.
It all started at the end of 2001, around New Year’s Eve. “In Frankfurt, many firecrackers burst in front of the headquarters of the European Central Bank, recount The Süddeutsche Zeitung. The giant blue and yellow euro symbol [planté devant le bâtiment] shines brightly in the humid air filled with billows of smoke.” The introduction of the single currency takes place during the transition to the year 2002 – much to the delight of a large part of the city’s population, who dance and sing in the streets, bottles of sparkling wine in hand.
Yet the next day, the atmosphere is less festive. In restaurants in Germany, the menus remain almost identical, with one exception. “The breaded schnitzel accompanied by potato salad always costs ‘13’, the amount [inscrit sur la carte] did not change, remembers the Munich newspaper. But hungry customers soon find that the familiar abbreviation ‘DM’ [pour Deutsche Mark] has been covered with a small sticker on which has been scrawled with a pen the symbol ‘€’.” Considering the exchange rate, prices almost doubled overnight. Ditto for hairdressers or hoteliers. The euro is no longer viewed favorably.
“In fact, prices fell in 2002, and by the
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Founded in 1945, the “Southern German Journal” is one of the country’s leading supraregional dailies. Liberal in tendency, he is a great defender of democratic values and the rule of law. He employs or has employed the best
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