Guardian – 15 March (reprinted in The Week – 20 March) 1999

May I bring a crumb of comfort to Guardian readers distraught at the loss of Oskar Lafontaine?

Consider the following: "I cannot imagine that Europe can successfully compete with the US, with Japan and, later, with China, India and many others without a consistently uniform economic area and without the prospect of a uniformly acting political union .... The euro is not European unification, but it is one important step towards this end."

Not Green German foreign minister Joschka Fischer, nor "Red Oskar" himself – but his "moderate" successor, Hans Eichel, last year.

Dr JULIAN LEWIS MP
House of Commons
London SW1