Join The European Union And The Euro
I realise this is a "project too far" for a Member's Bill, but the issue should be higher on the political agenda now that our national financial position is mirroring Iceland. A lively debate is taking place in that country too about joining a larger monetary and economic bloc to withstand the economic crises.
page revision: 1, last edited: 13 Feb 2009 04:00
It's not just "a project too far"; it's something which cannot be done unilaterally by the Parliament of NZ. If you think its desirable, the best you can do is lobby politicians.
To join the EU, the rest of the union would have to agree. This seems unlikely, although several overseas French territories (not New Caledonia) are effectively EU members. Parliament could pass a law mandating the government to attempt to negotiate EU membership.
"Joining" the Euro is possible unilaterally. NZ would simply have to pass a law making the Euro (or indeed Yen, US dollar, Ningi) legal tender for all debts and abolishing the NZ dollar. This has been done by a few states (Kosovo for instance). The ECB doesn't like it and has been giving nasty looks to aspirant Eurozone members contemplating unilateral Euroization.