After hearing from two of the three EU counties without the Euro here is a comment from the last one. Denmark.
I must say that i envy you guys inside.
Denmark still have to comply with all the rules of the game but without the benefits of the Euro. The exchange rates have been fixed for a long time.
And yes Tia we have problems with the power centralized in Brussels. Danes are affraid of this too. But we will join before long.
It no fun looking at a party that you have paid for but you can't join.
Before long we will all have forgot the Pesetas etc.

I always read the "Travel" section of our Sunday paper, and never miss a quick glance at the "Exchange Rates" column (to check on the peseta...of course!). This past week, it was strange to open the paper and see a list of euros, with only the occasional yen or pound thrown in (they list by country)!!

Tara

JJP,

I understood very well what you ment with the comment about your friend´s mother! It only made me smile, that´s all.

Btw I´m not sure that the welcoming of the Euro is a question of age. The elder people have a head on their shoulders and many times they are even brilliantly skilled in mental arithmetic - compared with the teenagers with their calculators.

Tia

Time to jump in.
I have a few inside sources in the Bush administration. They have continually told me over the past year that Aznar and Spain's elite are betting not on the Euro but in the expansion of NAFTA. The long term advantages of the European Union and its impending expansion will rest solidly in the hands of the Germans and the French. Remember, europe is going east of which Aznar and Spain have no interest in; quite the contrary.
Therefore, the future expansion of the Spanish economy resides in a unified Latin America. This is something that Aznar, Bush, and Fox have been working on feverishly. Even with the current problems in Argentina, Latin America still proves itself as a great market for Spain and its future. The US exports more products to Mexico than any other country in the world and Spain is the second largest investor in Latin America next to the US.
Granted, Spain needed to join the eu to speed its economical recovery. However, a partnership in a greater NAFTA is in Spain's long term financial interest with or even without the eu.

Would be a logical step to join NAFTA's "free" access in not only Mexico, but also the US and Canada. The talk of Spain's reconquest of the Americas is based in rhetoric, but a look at the last five years shows they are on a acquisition binge in Latin America. Let's see what happens - will be intriguing to watch what reaction is generated in the EU if (when) Spain joins...
. . .

What great, intimate information from inside the White House - interesting!

One might wonder what these - NAFTA entrance - types of pressures may cause inside the EU, and the effect on the Euro.



Could the focus on "latin" trade by Spain, and all the separate "agendas" amongst the EU members, negatively influence the Euro's stability?

No one will probably know for sure until all's in full-swing.

[ 01-11-2002: Message edited by: MadridMan ]

Toddy - Your comments/observations/'hear-say' present an interesting and very logical step if correct. Suppose time will tell. Let's hear some insights from our Spanish friends on the board ....

I am very excited to know (in credence to my sources) that Spain and the United States future is so inter-twined. This past weekend I was also told that Italy is building an entrance into the future expansion of NAFTA. HOWEVER, Spain and, next, the UK are still the main players in NAFTA's future expansion (according to my sources).
If any country deseves a little economic glory its Spain de verdad.
I'm sure the crui(z)ses will be happy!

Toddy,

Make sure you stay around us on this message board. This info "access" is great - we can all enjoy a little "operative" info, that's for sure!

Thanks again...and keep us posted.

Guys, I really don't see Spain in a NAFTA agreement. Though I don't discard it, that would mean a 180 degree change in our forgein policy.

Spain is a very compromised country with the EU. The government (this one and the past ones too) have the policy of being the joint point between the European Union, Spanish America and the Magreb. We have historicly had good relationships with all these areas, and geographicly we are something of a "neutral point". I really don't see Spain breaking this relations in order to become a NAFTA country.

If this information is true, we spaniards should congratulate, but what I would expect is becoming part of NAFTA without breking the rest of the links. Thus, Spain would be the bridge between all this worlds (EU, NAFTA, Magreb and Lathynamerica).

Fernando

Anyone care to comment on how the euro tranistion is going...hopefully, well. Are the coins accepted in most vending machines? Are pesetas still being used? Are most all cash transactions only in euro now?