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Ein Volk, Ein Reich, Ein Euro
Boston Standard - August 5 2002 Next time you go to the cinema in Boston watch out for a controversial new advertisement being shown in the trailers. It is not an advert for the latest pair of jeans or a tasty new ice cream and it is not a warning to turn off your mobile during the film. No, this advert has been launched by the UK "No" campaign against the single currency and features a host of stars attacking the euro. This 90-second harmless and light-hearted commercial has caused outrage among the euro-visionaries and the politically correct brigade. Why? Because of a three-second comedy sketch starring Rik Mayall doing a Hitler impression and saying "Ein volk! Ein reich! Ein euro!". But when pro-pound supporters try to discuss the euro issue seriously, and get into the macro-economics, and the political and constitutional consequences of the argument, we get told it's boring, that the public are not interested and that we are failing to connect with young people. Yet when we try to introduce humour, entertainment and a lighter touch, we get a shock-horror reaction. What the europhiles hate most, though, is the plain fact that the Rik Mayall sketch is based on history. The Nazis did indeed plan an Economic Community with a single currency. The idea came about at a conference in Berlin in 1942 and was taken up by Albert Speer, Hitler's minister for armaments. In 1943 Speer teamed up with the Vichy industry minister, Jean Bichelonne, to discuss plans for a common market. The fact that the Nazis considered a single currency is not sufficient reason, in itself, to reject the euro but it does give us pause for thought. The cinema advert gives out a far more important message: that joining the euro would be damaging because it would mean giving up control of our economy and our democracy.
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