Euro cheers exit of `Red Oskar'

At the end of another rough week for the euro, things finally began to look up. It was the resignation of the hectoring German finance minister "Red" Oskar Lafontaine, rather than any change in the fundamentals of euro zone economies or in the fortunes of the currencies which have been putting it in the shade - sterling and the dollar.

The move confirms the long-standing suspicion that the single most beneficial step for the currency would be the gagging of Mr Lafontaine. While his initial outbursts might have been forgiven, his continuing diatribe against the policies of the European Central Bank only served to increase market jitters over the true independence of the new currency. For its part, the bank had made it known privately that political pressure would only serve to lessen the probability of an interest rate cut.

Disquiet at home over the impact of this uncertainty on the exchange rate with non-euro zone currencies has been tempered only slightly by the fact that it is the Germans who have been the first to bleat about the restrictions imposed on domestic economic policy by EMU. After all, was it not the Germans who worried initially about Ireland's ability to live with the tough criteria imposed under a single currency?