Originally Posted by u-Bob

That's actually not far from the truth. Former French president, Francois Mitterrand admits in his memoirs that he pushed for the creation of the euro (France would otherwise not withdraw its troops from Germany after the unification unless Germany became part of the new eurozone) because that way the French socialists could keep their inflationary policies going.

Until then Germany (having witnessed the effects of hyperinflation firsthand) had (almost) always maintained a very strict monetary policy. This seriously pissed of the French because it limited their abilities to print new money out of thin air. If they inflated too much and the Germans kept their monetary base (relatively) fixed, the difference in interest rates would expose the extent to which the French had been devaluing their own currency.