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the labour market measures--known as the Hartz reforms--that the German Federal Republic enacted as soon as euro notes began to circulate. Implemented at a time of US-led growth, these reforms aimed at enhancing German exports and their competitiveness by making them cheaper through reducing German workers' average take-home pay significantly, both by cutting hourly wage rates and pushing large numbers of workers into so-called mini-jobs.

Given that the purpose of going through the palaver of re-creating a lost currency is to devalue it vis-a-vis the currency in people's hip pockets, leaving the euro is tantamount to announcing a major devaluation a year before it happens.

To fill this institutional lacuna, the Maastricht Treaty and its successor treaties created a panoply of non-credible rules to constrain states.

To fill this institutional lacuna, the Maastricht Treaty and its successor treaties created a panoply of non-credible rules to constrain states.