The Euro Ark has proved doomsdayers wrong

The euro celebrated its 10th anniversary against the background of the most difficult economic climate since its birth. The financial storm that swept in from the United States, and the onset of a severe economic downturn, confront Europe with unprecedented challenges.

Faced with the biggest test in its history, the euro is far from steering into disaster, as the Nobel laureate economist Milton Friedman predicted 10 years ago. On the contrary, Europe's Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) is proving a major asset in these tumultuous times.

Doubters should remember that the euro was itself born out of crisis. The single currency was conceived as an answer to the upheavals of the postwar period - double-digit inflation, high unemployment, and speculative attacks on the pound, the lira, and the French franc. It was the crisis of the European Monetary System that drove the euro's launch on Jan 1, 1999.