We may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. Today is the 20th anniversary of the introduction of the euro currency. It is currently used in 19 countries and is used by around 341 million people on a daily basis, making it the second most-used currency in the world. The euro has allowed easier trading on the continent, but it has also resulted in a lot of controversy, including the debt crisis more than a decade ago.
At one point it looked like the UK would join its neighbours in the single currency. In 1990, British Prime Minister John Major entered the European Exchange Rate Mechanism ERM as a prerequisite for adopting the euro. The UK spent over 6 billion trying to keep the pound within the narrow limits prescribed by the ERM, but was forced to leave the programme within two years. It crashed out in September 1992 on a day called Black Wednesday. The UK then secured an opt-out of the euro in the Maastricht Treaty. One of the major sticking points during Tony Blair's reign was his belief that the UK should join the euro, despite the opinion of his Chancellor Gordon Brown, who was steadfast against the move. Mr Blair, who received a knighthood in the Queen's New Year Honours, declared five economic tests that must be passed before the Government can recommend the UK join the euro and promised to hold a referendum on membership if those tests are met. In 1997 an assessment by the Treasury and a subsequent assessment by Mr Brown six years later, it was decided that the UK did not meet these five tests.
David Attenborough said that Britons are fed up with EU QUOTE Emmanuel Macron's hard-man facade crumbled after Britain INSIGHT EU is on the brink as Belarus creates a migrant superhighway along the border EXCLUSIVE Many critics argued that this highlighted the difficulty of having a single currency without a fiscal union between countries that use it. In the end, a huge bail out package was implemented and cracks began to show up in the bloc, as many in countries like Germany felt put-upon by what they perceived as economically irresponsible governments in countries like Greece, which were forced to bail out, while others in Greece were resentful of the harsh conditions on that bail-out. The EU hit a boiling point and the consequences were felt for years after, with unemployment in Greece and Spain reaching 27 percent. Despite the benefit of hindsight, in a new BBC documentary series Blair Brown: The New Labour Revolution, Mr Blair stood by his belief that the UK should have joined the euro.
The documentary, which charts the meteoric rise and legacy left by New Labour under the stewardship of Mr Blair and Mr Brown in the Nineties and Noughties, saw staggering interviews with the two men themselves. I have no doubt that Britain is heading for a clear destiny with the euro, and that is what Mr Blair said. The euro and Britain are essential for me, because all the world regions are coming together, so for me Britain is at the heart of Europe. Brown said that we have a difficulty over the euro and that was a policy difference.