Peter Mandelson was one of the most important architects of Tony Blair’s ‘new’ Labour. Lately, his career has taken some pretty remarkable turns (it’s a long, long story) but one of his principal roles these days is as a cheerleader for the EU’s single currency. His new piece in today’s Independent is a classic of the genre, in particular for this astonishing claim:
“Germany’s problems are nothing to do with the euro.”
What is it about the deflationary impact of the Growth and Stability Pact (the agreement that was a precondition to the introduction of the Euro) on Schroeder’s collapsing economy that Mandelson doesn’t understand?