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The Great Euro Crash with Robert Peston

As Europe teeters on the edge of an economic precipice, ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ business editor Robert Peston takes a long view of the euro, the cost of saving the monetary union and the alternative.

For more than two years Europe has teetered on the edge of an economic precipice - one of the factors that has pushed Britain back into recession. How exactly did Europe get itself into the current financial mess? Talking to historians, economists and politicians, ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ business editor Robert Peston takes a long view of the euro - from Churchill's vision of a United States of Europe to the bail-outs of Greece, Portugal and Ireland. Meeting a property developer in Ireland, a taxi driver in Rome and a German manufacturing worker, the film exposes the high cost being paid by European workers today for the dream of monetary union - and how close Europe came to a complete banking meltdown. The crisis could yet claim another victim - Britain, with its vast financial sector, would be dragged down by the collapse of the euro. The cost for saving the euro may be high, but the alternative would be a return to the economic mayhem of the 1930s.

1 hour

Last on

Wed 20 Jun 2012 01:30

Credits

Role Contributor
Reporter Robert Peston
Reporter Robert Peston
Producer John Thynne
Producer John Thynne
Executive Producer Sam Bagnall
Executive Producer Sam Bagnall

Broadcasts