Wilders’ arguments for leaving the euro

Populists do not like the euro. After France's Marine Le Pen, it now the turn of the Dutch Geer Wilders to demand the return of a "new guilder, as soon as possible," reports Dutch daily Volkskrant. On March 5 Wilders, leader of the far-right Party for Freedom (PVV), said that joining the single currency has had negative effects on Holland's economic growth and on the purchasing power of the Dutch. Wilders bases his comments on research he requested from a London-based economic study group Lombard Street Research.

The Amsterdam daily says the study is "biased" because the allegedly eurosceptic Lombard Street Research "has failed to allay initial doubts over the impartiality of the study", adding that the study "is not sufficiently convincing when it comes to demonstrating the advantages of a return to the guilder". In addition, Volkskrant notes, the researchers wrongly calculated the Dutch contribution to the European Stability Fund at 10% of the total when it is actually 5.9%. They provide "scant information on the cost linked to opting out of the euro" such the negative effects on exports and on economic growth.

The paper concludes that the debate over the future of the euro is useful but that the Lombard Street Research study does not make much of a contribution -

Due to these omissions, the study is of little use to a serious debate on an eventual return to the guilder. Yet, given the anxiety surrounding the euro, it does not hurt for political leaders to think about all sorts of options, including the consequences of a reintroduction of the guilder.

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