One of the underlying problems with the Euro is that the impetus behind the establishment of the single currency was political not economic. Procrustean rather than pragmatic, its ‘one size fits all’ approach has proved problematic when applied to wildly divergent economies and has, for example, played no small part in Germany’s current difficulties. Goran Persson, Sweden’s prime minister, seems to have learned nothing from this experience. His latest argument (quoted by Reuters today) as to why Sweden should sign up for the Euro seems to be based more on politics than the prosperity of the people he is supposed to represent. “I see a more influential European Union, ” he says “as an ever more important actor on the international scene. For everyone who is scared of living in a world where there is only one big actor, there is every reason to attach more weight and effort to strengthening the European Union…We in Sweden can contribute actively by stepping forth to work constructively for the common currency.” Now that’s what I call scary.