The good-old Dutch traders can thank the ECB for the euro area recovery, which made it possible for them to pocket last year their $65 billion trade surplus (a whopping 8.4 percent of GDP) and to beat their German competitors with a growth rate of 2 percent.
France is the next political test with the first round of elections on April 23. Again, anybody betting against the euro and the EU will lose big. According to the French media, voters are largely indifferent toward the presidential candidates, but the economy is improving and low credit costs have unleashed a real estate boom that’s triggering solid consumer spending.
The French are also great fans of the euro: An opinion poll published last Tuesday (March 25) shows that 75 percent of the French like the European currency, and half of them are pleased with the EU, although they believe that some of their neighbors were greater beneficiaries of the whole project.
Many good points, but the overall assessment is more than a bit sanguine in the face of Italy and Greece’s rolling crises…