Is Europe is experiencing an economic and monetary crisis? Former German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt, the grand and grumpy old man of world finance, earned rapturous applause when he told an audience in Frankfurt in late October that it was all ‘got up’ by mischievous politicians and journalists. He has not always said that. Intriguingly, Schmidt told the Bulletin in December 2010 that the EU made ‘great mistakes’ by deciding to start monetary union with a wider
rather than a narrower group. As Meghnad Desai writes, some people have been in denial, at least part of the time. Our approach is to look at both pitfalls and
opportunities. Marek Belka, president of the National Bank of Poland, says – whatever happens – the single market must be preserved. Two doughty euro campaigners on our advisory board, former Dutch prime minister Ruud Lubbers, and Niels Thygesen, the Danish economist who was on the Delors committee, expound answers to Europe’s conundrums. Lubbers believes Europe now has a second chance.