Oh, I thought it was just the monetary expression of neo-liberalism in Europe. In order to use the Euro you have to submit to certain types of fiscal discipline, which might actually work against national development (for the less developed nations.)
[WS:] What neoliberal policies? Their public social spending has been way above that of the US (or UK) 25 - 30% of the GDP vs 15% in the US and has not decreased, not even after the introduction of the Euro. In "new" EU countries of Eastern Europe, it went up.
http://stats.oecd.org/wbos/default.aspx?datasetcode=SOCX_AGG
I wish the US had 'neoliberal policies' like that.
Wojtek