Everyone had relied on a pretty reliable Bundesbank. Since the ECB appeared, what's happened in Euroland is that we've seen a transfer of power from a credible central bank to an unknown quantity. This uncertainty has been reflected in the performance of the euro on the world markets. This has made it tough to rally public support. Advocates of the single currency argue that harmonising product prices across the euro-zone not only makes prices more transparent, but also reduces cost differences between identical products from one country to the next.
Deep suspicions remain, however.
A constant refrain of campaigners for a no-vote in the Danish referendum has been the weakness of the euro on the currency markets. In Germany, likewise, scrapping the mighty Deutschmark for the relatively untested euro has required a significant leap of faith. They must keep their budget deficit below three percent of gross domestic product, maintain low inflation and produce a domestic surplus. Despite such belt-tightening and the continued weakness of the euro, six out of 10 EU citizens still say they support the single currency, according to an April 2000 survey by Eurobarometer, the EU Commission's public opinion service. All bear the image of a Greek epsilon, bisected by two horizontal parallel lines.