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Trouble in Euroland

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24/08/2010

BBC Radio 4 - Trouble in Euroland

As the Euro threatens to divide the continent, Jonathan Charles takes Europe's temperature

The Euro is in deep trouble. As the project to unify the EU causes even deeper divisions, Jonathan Charles takes Europe's temperature and asks if the patient is terminally ill.

The Euro is in deep trouble. 

As the project intended to unify the European Union causes even deeper divisions, questions are being raised about whether nations as diverse as Germany and Greece can really share the same currency. 

The repercussions spread far beyond mainland Europe. Britain is affected as British firms struggle to sell to the Eurozone.

Jonathan Charles was  the BBC's Europe correspondent in the 1990s, when the euro was first introduced to great fanfare. He travelled widely around the continent, reporting on the years of preparations leading to the final launch of the euro. 

Now he retraces his steps, returning to some of those places and speaking to the likes of former Chancellor of the Exchequer Norman Lamont, the UK's treasury minister and ambassador at the time, and prominent European figures including the former Dutch Prime Minister Wim Kok and some top European bankers. Jonathan also talks to ordinary workers whose livelihood has been fundamentally changed by the advent of euro zone.

Having taken Europe's temperature, Jonathan asks if the Euro will survive, and what does it mean for Europe's dream of political integration?

Producer: Kati Whitaker
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.

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