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Content: My choice of the words “establishing” and “maintaining” is not accidental. Most economic commentators (not to speak of the non‐​economic commentators) were satisfied by the ease and apparent inexpensiveness of the first step (i.e., the establishment of the common monetary area). This has helped to form the mistaken impression that everything was fine with the European single currency project. That was a mistake that at least some of us have been pointing out since the very birth of the euro. Unfortunately, nobody has listened to us. I have never questioned the fact that the exchange rates of the countries joining the eurozone more or less reflected the economic reality in Europe at the time when the euro was born. However, over the last decade, the economic performance of individual eurozone members diverged and the negative effects of the “straight‐​jacket” of a single currency over the individual member states have become visible. When “good weather” (in the economic sense) prevailed, no visible problems arose. Once the crisis or “bad weather” arrived, however, the lack of homogeneity among the eurozone members manifested itself very clearly. In that sense, I dare say that — as a project that promised to be of considerable economic benefit to its members — the eurozone has failed.