The Common Currency a Single State Does Not Make: The Bridges of the Euro Currency.

Twelve EU member states currently use the euro currency, which on one side of the bank notes features images of a series of bridges. This paper asks why were bridges chosen? The paper sets out three frames of reference for considering the question. The first considers the significance of currency as a symbol of national identity and the association at the EU level with a federal project. The second considers bridges as an emblem of supranational integration, while the third considers bridges as a metaphor of the post-Westphalian state system. The paper is divided into three substantive sections. The first considers the established argument in the literature that currency is a symbol of national identity and state sovereignty. In the recent debate on the Euro this perspective has informed those that regard the currency as a step towards federal union. Seen through this prism bridges are a curious choice, insofar as Europe’s founding fathers (Monnet and Schumann et al) would seem more likely icons. The second section begins by noting how bridges are a vital part of the infrastructure that underpins the objectives of the EU â€" the free movement of labour, goods and capital around the member states. The most impressive example of this is the 16km Oresund bridge linking southern Sweden and Denmark, emphasising the mutual undertaking to construct permanent ties between European states, and peacefully bind together each ‘end’ of the bridge. Bridges therefore symbolise the supranational integration project that has been at the heart of the EU for over 50 years.The third section focuses on the space between EU states, by building on Robert Cooper’s definition of a ‘postmodern’ state system, in which the Westphalian distinction between domestic and international has eroded. The bridge is no longer regarded as the linking devise between separate sovereign states that ‘bridges’ the international void. Instead, the bridge is the ‘new international’; it is the unique space between European states that is no longer external or ‘outside’. The paper concludes that the third interpretation of the bridges of the euro currency is the most appropriate, since it symbolises the aspiration for a new sort of political order in Europe, one that challenges the traditional Westphalian notion of state sovereignty. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]