Vive le franc: defiant village snubs the Euro
The Eurocrats should take heed. A village in southern France has decided to bring back the franc as legal tender in an experiment that it hopes will be followed elsewhere. Collobrières, a village of 1,600 inhabitants in Provence, is motivated largely by profit: accepting the franc has boosted their business. “It’s amazing how many francs people have kept at home,” said Dominique Cardi, a gift shop owner. “Now they can spend them.” There is also a note of pro-*test*-('"), however: nostalgia has grown for the colourful old money depicting French national heroes and its reappearance has warmed the hearts of those who complain that a distant Paris – not to mention Brussels – is out of touch. “Prices have gone up terribly since the introduction of the euro,” said Cardi, 41, who sells regional specialities such as glazed chestnuts and olive oil. “Of course it’s nice to be able to travel to other countries without having to change money but in other ways things have got worse because of the euro.” The introduction of the single currency in 2002 was hailed as an advance in integration but France’s subsequent “non” to a European Union constitution was a glimpse of the chasm between politicians and a eurosceptic French public. Ireland’s rejection of the scaled-down constitution last month has aroused sympathy among the French: according to one poll 53% would have said no to the Lisbon treaty designed to facilitate the organisation of an enlarged 27-member EU. In Collobrières the return of the franc coincides with widespread scepticism about an ever enlarging Europe. “How can we get 27 countries to agree with one another?” asked Remy Fages, owner of a restaurant in the village square. “Perhaps in 100 years.” snip http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article4322470.ece
The Eurocrats should take heed. A village in southern France has decided to bring back the franc as legal tender in an experiment that it hopes will be followed elsewhere. Collobrières, a village of 1,600 inhabitants in Provence, is motivated largely by profit: accepting the franc has boosted their business. “It’s amazing how many francs people have kept at home,” said Dominique Cardi, a gift shop owner. “Now they can spend them.” There is also a note of pro-*test*-('"), however: nostalgia has grown for the colourful old money depicting French national heroes and its reappearance has warmed the hearts of those who complain that a distant Paris – not to mention Brussels – is out of touch. “Prices have gone up terribly since the introduction of the euro,” said Cardi, 41, who sells regional specialities such as glazed chestnuts and olive oil. “Of course it’s nice to be able to travel to other countries without having to change money but in other ways things have got worse because of the euro.” The introduction of the single currency in 2002 was hailed as an advance in integration but France’s subsequent “non” to a European Union constitution was a glimpse of the chasm between politicians and a eurosceptic French public. Ireland’s rejection of the scaled-down constitution last month has aroused sympathy among the French: according to one poll 53% would have said no to the Lisbon treaty designed to facilitate the organisation of an enlarged 27-member EU. In Collobrières the return of the franc coincides with widespread scepticism about an ever enlarging Europe. “How can we get 27 countries to agree with one another?” asked Remy Fages, owner of a restaurant in the village square. “Perhaps in 100 years.” snip http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article4322470.ece
