PERCEPTION OF THE EURO IN THE EUROPEAN COUNTRIES - A CLUSTER ANALYSIS

A multi-speed Europe, a project that was little short of unthinkable just before the outbreak of the 2007-08 financial crunch, today seems to be a fairly pragmatic and realistic perspective. The euro area, built as a reflection of the optimum currency area proposed by Robert Mundell (1961), has seen many benefits from the euro introduction, but it is just as true that it has experienced major problems during the recent financial crisis. Although most Eurosceptics and pro-Europeans agree that, in its current form, it much resembles a half-built house, the former would rather dismantle it, while the latter will prescribe the creation of a fiscal union. The paper aims to highlight how much heterogeneity there exists in the economic performance and the perceptions of the euro across European countries. To this end, a body of data sourced from the European Commission, for the euro area as well as for non-euro area states, is examined using cluster analysis. At the same time, attitudes and perceptions toward the euro are shown as political and social, rather than economic, issues.