Filthy Lucre

An interesting piece of news for currency enthusiasts (you know who you are) Denmark has decided to set a date for a referendum on joining the euro and consigning the Danish Kroner to history.

The Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen has decided to claim the initiative after increasing awareness in Denmark that the currency, while an important part of their national identity, is costing a fair bit to maintain, not least because the Nordic Council’s efforts to co-ordinate the stability of the Nordic currencies requires increasingly large contributions from the central bank.

The referendum will not be any time soon, but this step is decisive, and backs my point that Scotland should join the euro because it would be in our interestes, on balance, to do so. The euro is not perfect and from my perspective could do with a far stronger central bank but it exists and is working. And we, like Denmark, can join the biggest currency block anywhere near us or we can pay increasing amounts of our national wealth to maintain an independent currency in an increasingly volatile global financial market. Anyone who reckons that sterling is big and stable need only remember Norman Lamont.

The latest opinion poll has 54% of Danes in favour of joining the euro. Denmark would join Slovakia, which this week received the green light to also join the euro, following Slovenia, Cyprus and Malta, which have all joined since the euro was established.