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Gerard Lyons criticised the euro and warned against the path the European Union is currently heading in. Speaking exclusively to Express.co.uk, Mr Lyons, co-author of Clean Brexit and Chief Economic Strategist at Netwealth Investments, explained the major problems with the euro. He said: “I think one of the biggest challenges with the European Union is that at its core it’s a fundamentally flawed economic system, namely the euro. “The euro was driven by politics, not by economics. And the euro has been at the root cause of all the problems we have see in the European Union in recent years and indeed in recent decades. I still think that is the biggest challenge.

“Indeed, if one looks at the EU at the moment or the euro system in particular. There is something called TARGET2, very technical it sounds, but it reflects underlying economic imbalances within the euro area. “I think that is the big challenge. More than Europe led by Germany is worried by the fact that they will have to make continued fiscal transfers. “Southern Europe, reflected in the recent election in Italy, is worried that they will have to bow to, and have their hands tied behind their backs on economic policy. “So, I think there are deep routed tensions within the euro system. And it has been widely accepted, since its inception, is the way the euro can survive is to move closer and closer to a political union.”

The euro has been at the root cause of all the problems we have see in the European Union in recent years Gerard Lyons

Mr Lyons added: “Now I think the key thing for us in the UK to understand in the last year-and-a-half since we voted to leave. "President Macron and others within the EU have talked about these challenges and they have pointed out that either the EU, led by the euro area itself, needs to move towards a closer political union. “Or it needs to move to system, where there are countries on the periphery. “We need to ask ourselves do we want to be part of a system where will be pulled into a political union. And the referendum result would say no. “Or do we want to be part of a system where we would be on the periphery, where we would have little control and say, and clearly most people in the UK would say no.

Gerard Lyons claimed the euro was 'fundamentally flawed'