---
title: "An alternative to the euro: the ECU-2 basket | Sami Miettinen and Juhana Vartiainen on Puheenaihe 131"
summary: "The episode where Sami Miettinen's ECU-2 proposal meets a serious opponent. Puheenaihe put him opposite MP and economist Juhana Vartiainen, who does not buy it. The proposal is to reverse the euro's own construction: reintroduce national currencies as parallel money and define the euro juridically as their weighted sum. Vartiainen's objection is direct — if the willingness to tax German surpluses does not exist, no currency architecture creates it, and Finland's adjustment problem is domestic. Also covered: Target2, federation without transfers, fiscal dominance and Greece in 2015."
datePublished: 2020-11-24
dateModified: 2020-11-24
originalLang: en
section: economy
sections: ["economy","society"]
authors: ["Sami Miettinen"]
tags: []
canonical: https://ai.neuvottelija.com/puheenaihe-131-ecu-2-kori-juhana-vartiainen/
---
# An alternative to the euro: the ECU-2 basket | Sami Miettinen and Juhana Vartiainen on Puheenaihe 131

# An alternative to the euro: the ECU-2 basket | Sami Miettinen and Juhana Vartiainen on Puheenaihe 131

> **Summary:**
> The episode where Sami Miettinen's ECU-2 proposal meets a serious opponent. Puheenaihe put him opposite MP and economist Juhana Vartiainen, who does not buy it. The proposal is to reverse the euro's own construction: reintroduce national currencies as parallel money and define the euro juridically as their weighted sum. Vartiainen's objection is direct — if the willingness to tax German surpluses does not exist, no currency architecture creates it, and Finland's adjustment problem is domestic. Also covered: Target2, federation without transfers, fiscal dominance and Greece in 2015.

---

## Key Themes

* **Is there an alternative to the euro that does not break it up:** Discussed from 00:00 onward.
* **Defining the euro juridically as a basket; floating or fixed within a band:** Discussed from 03:00 onward.
* **Vartiainen: what is the added value over national currencies:** Discussed from 06:00 onward.
* **The binding constraint is political will, not architecture:** Discussed from 09:00 onward.
* **Libera's 2014 book, and whether Finland is a weak euro country:** Discussed from 12:00 onward.
* **Adjusting to low inflation is a domestic problem:** Discussed from 15:00 onward.
* **Germany's Hartz reforms and the end of incomes policy:** Discussed from 18:00 onward.
* **Automatic counter-cyclicality already sits in the public finances:** Discussed from 21:00 onward.
* **Dornbusch overshooting, and remembering Pentti Kouri:** Discussed from 24:00 onward.
* **Target2 surpluses as an indirect claim:** Discussed from 27:00 onward.
* **The basket manager would need the EMF role and restructuring powers:** Discussed from 30:00 onward.
* **Reform the labour market inside the euro; Denmark's pegged krone:** Discussed from 33:00 onward.
* **Federation without transfers: Switzerland as the model:** Discussed from 36:00 onward.
* **A European army, and Finland's two per cent:** Discussed from 39:00 onward.
* **Systems tailored to large countries, and EU-wide social security:** Discussed from 42:00 onward.
* **Migration into an ageing continent; what Target2 actually is:** Discussed from 45:00 onward.
* **If Italy left, who settles the balance:** Discussed from 48:00 onward.
* **The recovery fund as a Keynesian move in a liquidity trap:** Discussed from 51:00 onward.
* **Would Finland become a larger net payer:** Discussed from 54:00 onward.
* **Centralising power is itself a risk:** Discussed from 57:00 onward.
* **Small reforms, and the EU as a relative game:** Discussed from 60:00 onward.
* **Public demand outrunning supply, and inflation expectations coming loose:** Discussed from 63:00 onward.
* **Fiscal dominance, or can the ECB force restructuring:** Discussed from 66:00 onward.
* **Greece 2015: emergency liquidity as a political instrument:** Discussed from 69:00 onward.
* **The microeconomic case for one currency:** Discussed from 72:00 onward.