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		In their own words July 3 2003 We are constantly being told that Euro is an economic project, that it is nothing to do with the foundation of a European Superstate. Well, perhaps some of the following quotations from prominent EU figures might enlighten us to what is really going on. "When we build the euro - and with what a success - when we advance on the European defence, with difficulties but with considerable progress, when we build a European arrest-warrant, when we move towards creating a European prosecutor, we are building something deeply federal, or a true union of states." M. Pierre Moscovici, French Minister for Europe, Le Monde, 28/02/02 "European monetary union has to be complemented by a political union - that was always the presumption of Europeans including those who made active politics before us. . .What we need to Europeanise is everything to do with economic and financial policy. In this area we need much more, let's call it co-ordination and co-operation to suit British feelings, than we had before. That hangs together with the success of the euro." German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, The Times, London, 22/02/02 "Defence is the hard core of sovereignty. Now we have a single currency, then why should we not have a common defence one day?" Spanish Defence Minister Federico Trillo, European Parliament Committee on Foreign Affairs, 19/02/02 "The EU ought to develop into a great power in order that it may function as a fully fledged actor in the world." Paavo Lipponen, Prime Minister of Finland, London, 14/02/02 "It (the introduction of the euro) is not economic at all. It is a completely political step . . .The historical significance of the euro is to construct a bipolar economy in the world. The two poles are the dollar and the euro. This is the political meaning of the single European currency. It is a step beyond which there will be others. The euro is just an antipasto." Commission President Romano Prodi, interview on CNN, 01/01/02 "The currency union will fall apart if we don't follow through with the consequences of such a union. I am convinced we will need a common tax system." German Finance Minister Hans Eichel, The Sunday Times, London, 23/12/01 "Are we all clear that we want to build something that can aspire to be a world power? In other words, not just a trading bloc but a political entity. Do we realise that our nation states, taken individually, would find it far more difficult to assert their existence and their identity on the world stage." Commission President Romano Prodi, European Parliament, 13/02/01 "Thanks to the euro, our pockets will soon hold solid evidence of a European identity. We need to build on this, and make the euro more than a currency and Europe more than a territory . . . In the next six months, we will talk a lot about political union, and rightly so. Political union is inseparable from economic union. Stronger growth and European integration are related issues. In both areas we will take concrete steps forward." French Finance Minister Laurent Fabius, The Financial Times, London, 24/07/00 "We already have a federation. The 11, soon to be 12, member States adopting the euro have already given up part of their sovereignty, monetary sovereignty, and formed a monetary union, and that is the first step towards a federation." German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer, Financial Times, 07/07/00 "Common responsibility for the European currency will also engender a common decision-making instance for the European economy. It is unthinkable to have a European central bank but not a common leadership for the European economy. If there is no counterweight to the ECB in European economy policy, then we will be left with the incomplete construction which we have today . . . However even if the building is not finished it is still true that monetary union is part of a supranational constitution . .It is our task for the future to work with the appropriate means for the transfer of traditional elements of national sovereignty to the European level." Italian President Carlo Ciampi, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 08/02/00 "We must now face the difficult task of moving towards a single economy, a single political entity . . . For the first time since the fall of the Roman Empire we have the opportunity to unite Europe." EU Commission President Romano Prodi, European Parliament, 13/10/99 "The euro was not just a bankers' decision or a technical decision. It was a decision which completely changed the nature of the nation states. The pillars of the nation state are the sword and the currency, and we changed that. The euro decision changed the concept of the nation state and we have to go beyond that." EU Commission President Romano Prodi, Financial Times interview, 09/04/99 "The introduction of the euro is probably the most important integrating step since the beginning of the unification process. It is certain that the times of individual national efforts regarding employment policies, social and tax policies are definitely over. This will require to finally bury some erroneous ideas of national sovereignty. . . I am convinced our standing in the world regarding foreign trade and international finance policies will sooner or later force a Common Foreign and Security Police worthy of its name. . . National sovereignty in foreign and security policy will soon prove itself to be a product of the imagination." German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder on 'New Foundations for European Integration', The Hague, 19/01/99 "Our future begins on January 1 1999. The euro is Europe's key to the 21st century. The era of solo national fiscal and economic policy is over." German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, 31/12/98 "The euro is a sickly premature infant, the result of an over-hasty monetary union." German Opposition leader Gerhard Schröder, March 1998 "The euro is far more than a medium of exchange. . .It is part of the identity of a people. It reflects what they have in common now and in the future." European Central Bank Governor Wim Duisenberg, 31/12/98 "Transforming the European Union into a single State with one army, one constitution and one foreign policy is the critical challenge of the age, German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer said yesterday." The Guardian, London, 26/11/98 "The single currency is the greatest abandonment of sovereignty since the foundation of the European Community . . . It is a decision of an essentially political character. . . We need this united Europe . . .We must never forget that the euro is an instrument for this project." Spanish Prime Minister Felipe Gonzalez, May 1998 "Federalism might make eurosceptics laugh but, with the creation of the euro,the halfway stage would be reached. Four key organisms would have a federal or quasi-federal status: the Central Bank, the Court of Justice, the Commission and the Parliament. Only one institution is missing: a federal government." M.Jacques Lang, Foreign Affairs Spokesman, French National Assembly, The Guardian, London, 22/07/97 "As a monetary union represents a lasting commitment to integration which encroaches on the core area of national sovereignty, the EMU participants must also be prepared to take further steps towards a more comprehensive political union." Annual Report of the German Bundesbank 1995 "In Maastricht we laid the foundation-stone for the completion of the European Union. The European Union Treaty introduces a new and decisive stage in the process of European union, which within a few years will lead to the creation of what the founding fathers dreamed of after the last war: the United States of Europe." German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, April 1992 "There is no example in history of a lasting monetary union that was not linked to one State." 0tmar Issing, Chief Economist, German Bundesbank, 1991 "A European currency will lead to member-nations transferring their sovereignty over financial and wage policies as well as in monetary affairs. . . It is an illusion to think that States can hold on to their autonomy over taxation policies." Bundesbank President Hans Tietmeyer, 1991 "We argue about fish, about potatoes, about milk, on the periphery. But what is Europe really for? Because the countries of Europe, none of them anything but second-rate powers by themselves, can, if they get together, be a power in the world, an economic power, a power in foreign policy, a power in defence equal to either of the superpowers. We are in the position of the Greek city states: they fought one another and they fell victim to Alexander the Great and then to the Romans. Europe united could still, by not haggling about the size of lorries but by having a single foreign policy, a single defence policy and a single economic policy, be equal to the great superpowers." Prime Minister Harold Macmillan, who initiated the UK's application to join the EEC, The Listener, London, 08/02/79 "The fusion (of economic functions) would compel nations to fuse their sovereignty into that of a single European State." Jean Monnet, founder of the European Movement, 03/04/52 "I have always found the word 'Europe' on the lips of those who wanted something from others which they dared not demand in their own names." German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, 1880 With special thanks to Anthony Coughlan, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland