The former European commission president says errors when the euro was created made the current crisis inevitable

This article is more than 8 years old

This article is more than 8 years old

One of the architects of the euro, Jacques Delors, has said the eurozone was flawed from the start and that efforts to tackle its problems have been "too little, too late".

Delors, the former president of the European commission, said errors made when the euro was created had made the current economic crisis inevitable.

European leaders in the 1990s had chosen to turn a blind eye to the economic weaknesses of some member states, and the response now the issues had surfaced had generally been inadequate, he told the Telegraph.

All European countries had to share the blame for excessive borrowing by countries such as Italy and Greece that had brought the system to the brink of disaster, Delors added.

"Everyone must examine their consciences," he said.

His remarks came as France and Germany edged towards closer fiscal union to avoid a potentially disastrous collapse of the single currency.

The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, called on Friday for greater centralised control over the budgets of member states at the start of a make-or-break five days of talks.

Delors, who was head of the commission from 1985 to 1994 and played a central role in the creation of the euro in 1999, claimed the current crisis stemmed from "a fault in execution".

He admitted that when "Anglo Saxons", referring to Britain, had warned that a single central bank and currency without a single state would be inherently unstable "they had a point".

"The finance ministers did not want to see anything disagreeable which they would be forced to deal with," he said.

Former Tory chancellor Norman Lamont, who negotiated Britain's opt-out from the single currency, said Delors deserved "credit" for his comments.

"Jacques Delors' remarks are hugely significant, particularly his admission that those who said you cannot have a single currency without a single government 'had a point'.

"All credit to Jacques Delors for finally admitting what so many people, including in Britain, denied."

Delors criticised Germany for its insistence that the European Central Bank must not support debt-stricken members for fear of fuelling inflation.

The euro's troubles spring from "a combination of the stubbornness of the Germanic idea of monetary control and the absence of a clear vision from all the other countries", he said.

He added that Britain was not "sharing the burden" because it was not in the euro, but claimed that the UK was "just as embarrassed as the Europeans by the financial crisis".

He added that some of the measures put in place to deal with the crisis could pose a threat to British interests.

The creation of a common "eurobond" underwritten by all eurozone governments and traded in Paris and Frankfurt would be a "big worry" for the City of London, he noted.

"I can see Mr Cameron's worries," said Delors.

British diplomats fear the 17 euro members could seek an agreement on new rules between themselves, in effect excluding other EU countries.

David Cameron held talks in Paris on Friday with the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, in anticipation of next week's critical EU summit.

The prime minister, who is already concerned about the impact of a chaotic breakup of the euro on an already fragile UK economy, said he was not opposed to Merkel's plan.