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Gordon Brown, the UK finance minister, added extra hurdles for joining the euro when he spoke at the Mansion House on 26th June 2002. He said the Treasury would now also look at the impact on the booming housing market, the importance of the exchange rate and whether other EU countries would stick to the economic rules for the single currency. Now that the 'five economic tests' are widely viewed to have been met, this speech was seen as an attempt by Mr Brown to reassert his control on the matter and to stop control drifting away to Tony Blair. Mr Brown, who in the past has widely been seen as less enthusiastic about the euro than Tony Blair, made a point in the speech of describing himself as 'pro-European'. He insisted that the five tests were not just 'window dressing for political appearances'. Mr Brown said he was serious about the tests, which would play a critical role in assessing whether membership of economic and monetary union was in the national economic interest. |