Margaret Thatcher Predicted The Failure of the Euro in Forbes, October, 1992

Margaret Thatcher was indomitably outspoken against submerging all the European nationalities into a single superstate some 21 years ago when I interviewed her for a Forbes magazine article entitled "It just won't do. It's not big enough minded." The Iron Lady had a grander scheme in mind; a free trade area between and among North America and the European Community. What did we just elect our own Parliament for, she insisted sardonically; "Just to be a talking show?" On this score she was indomitable, ferociously scathing at the willingness of independent European nations giving up their autonomy to a bunch of bureaucrats in Brussels. She did not exactly predict the descent of the Euro, the financial crisis in Cyprus or the meltdown in most European sovereign securities or the need to bailout the banks of Italy, Spain and France. But, in a scathing tone, Lady Thatcher insisted to me that a single currency was impossible. It would never work. "Every single fixed exchange rate has cracked in the end. We're all at different levels of development of our economies. Some countries simply couldn't live up to a single currency... We should each of us be proud to be separate countries cooperating together." The turmoil in European currency markets that fall of 1992 was proof for Thatcher that a united Europe was meant to crumble. And indeed her prophecy 21 years ago has been borne out lately. The grand experiment of a single monetary system, a single economic policy, working towards a common defense policy, even a common foreign policy meant to her that "80% of Britain's economic decisions will be made in Brussels." Actually, it has been more the need of the European Central Bank and Germany to prop up the staggering debt-laden economies of Greece, Spain, Italy, France and try to devise stability for Cyprus. Imagine having banks in Cyprus become an Achilles heel for Europe. Thatcher would have been furious. And she doesn't exactly look wrong in her worry over the prospect of German domination of Europe-- though "domination" today means the helping hand of the giant strong economy of Europe. Thatcher was going to be damned if she made Britain subservient to Germany. Finally came this prediction; " Europe cannot do in the world without American leadership. There is no substitute for this great land sand the clear lead it can give." I walked out of the Carlyle Hotel that fall afternoon into the clear bracing air, knowing that I had just spent an hour with Margaret Thacher, one of the world's most indomitable personalities. She knew her mind more certainly than any other politician I had ever met or heard.

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