To most people in the United States hearing the word Euro brings about blank stares. Ask this same question in England or another European country and it means bringing Europe together under one common currency. The Euro can be defined as the common monetary system by which the participating members of the European Community will trade. Eleven countries Germany, France, Spain, Portugal, Ireland, Austria, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Finland and Italy will comprise the European Economic Monetary Union that will set a side their national currency and adopt the Euro in 2002. A new National bank, based in Frankfurt Germany, will be constructed and the interest rates that control the economies of these nations will be in the hands of this new system. It is indeed a great experiment, being masterminded in Frankfurt, one that will be felt through out Europe as well as the rest of the world.1The combined countries, now more commonly referred to as Euroland, will fall under one national bank. This bank, the European Central Bank, will determine the economic fate of the entire “Union”. The merging of eleven currencies is a daunting and somewhat lethal task. The ECB is comprised of seventeen members, each having one vote within the governing council. What has most Europeans concerned is the ECB’s secrecy of conducting business. There is no voting record nor will there be published minutes of the meeting that take place. Wim Duisenberg president of the ECB and a native Dutchman stated that he wanted the ECB to be one of the most open banks in the world.1 When BBC reporter Steve Levinson confronted him about this in Frankfurt Germany Wim repliedI reconcile these two positions by not defining openness as publishing everything that will be available, but by defining openness as explaining every decision, every consideration. Also the pros and cons and to be very open about that and to be frequent and immediate in that ope...
