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Republic Doesn't Register on ECB Radar
It's easy to think, when you're travelling abroad in Europe (or even hopping over the border), that it wouldn't be a good thing if we were to join the Eurozone and do away with all the nasty changing money business.
The Irish Times carries a cautionary tale about the inflexibility of a central bank setting policy for such a large and diverse area as the EU though.
The European Central Bank's president, Jean-Claude Trichet, warned that the ECB has more important things to worry about than eurozone members like the Republic of Ireland [sic], Spain and Portugal that are experiencing economic difficulties.
"The ECB has to care for the superior interest of the euro area.
...
Our monetary policy must be optimal at the level of the whole euro area - exactly like the Fed [the ECB's American equivalent] would not look at what is in the interest of Missouri, California or Texas."
