Haro on the euro. Friday, the European currency knew its worst day since its birth, January 1, 1999. This time, the attack did not come from the political ground but foreign exchange markets. Like an effect with delayed-action of the double not of France and the Netherlands to the constitutional treaty, a salvo of criticisms, emanating from European political leaders, sowed Friday a wind of panic. The leaders of the European central Bank (BCE) had to go up to the crenel to publicly draw aside the scenario catastrophe of a possible death of the single currency. As if the possibility from now on had really become credible.

It is Wolfgang Clement, Minister German for the Economy, which, Thursday, opened the ball by declaring that its country "sacrifices a considerable share of its growth on the furnace bridge of the monetary union, because it must face interest rates higher than those which Germany would have if it still controlled its monetary policy" . The following day, Roberto Maroni, Italian Minister (League of North) for the social Affairs, in a layer gave. "For three years, the euro has shown that it was not with the height vis-a-vis the deceleration of the economy, with the loss of competitiveness and the employment crisis", it declared with the daily newspaper Repubblica . And to suggest reintroducing the national currencies.

This double declaration intervenes in climate of hostility on behalf of certain public opinions European (in particular in the Netherlands and in Italy) which see in the single currency the reason of the rise of the prices, and thus of the fall purchasing power to them. In Germany, a survey published this week by the Stern magazine shows that 56 % of the Germans would wish the return of the deutschemark.

The defenders of the euro did not wait to counter-attack. A member of Forza Italia, the party of Silvio Berlusconi, answered Maroni the minister that his suggestion is "odd, nonrealizable, politically absurd and against-productive" . As for the purchasing power of Europeans, Jean-Claude Trichet, the owner of the BCE, ensured on LCI that "it will be preserved" , ensuring that "the euro is a solid currency" . Friday, it however seemed deaf with the polemic, weakening only slightly to 1,2226 dollar.