The single currency is often accused of having raised prices. And in the facts?
It’s a running discussion of Café du Commerce, fueled as scientifically as the conspiratorial claims that flourish on social media. “Everything has increased because of the euro.” But is this statement, heard many times over, really real? Has the euro made prices soar? Of course, no one will deny that a loaf of bread or a kilo of coffee costs more today than before the euro. But the cost of living was also increasing before the changeover to the euro. Wages follow the same movement, at the rate of indexations and inflation. At the same time, rates on savings accounts, as well as mortgage loans, have suffered a historic plunge. So, is life really more expensive since the changeover to the Euro?
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