The suggestion by the European Commission president, Mr Romano Prodi, that Britain could join the European single currency only to leave again in "exceptional circumstances", was greeted with surprise in political and financial circles in Britain yesterday.
Mr Prodi's intervention in the euro debate in an interview with the Conservative MEP, Mr Daniel Hannan, was not viewed with concern at the Treasury.
Officials were keen to point out that the question for Britain was not whether it could leave the euro, but whether the economic conditions were right to join the single currency.
The Maastricht Treaty makes it clear that membership of the euro should not be reversible and the British government appears to have accepted the "once you're in, you're in" commitment, with the Treasury suggesting that Mr Prodi's comments, while unusual, have made little impact on its economic outlook. A spokesman for Mr Prodi said yesterday, however, he was not trying to influence a sceptical British public into support for the euro.
"It's not a matter of trial membership. There is no legal provision for leaving the euro," he said.
"There is absolutely no question of anyone withdrawing. The European Union is built on consent and commitment and the EU Commission and the president have absolute confidence in the future of the euro."
The chairman of the London Stock Exchange, Mr Don Cruickshank, said he believed the suggestion that Britain could join and then leave the single currency was not written into the Treaty of Rome: "I'm surprised to hear him making such remarks." The Shadow Chancellor, Mr Michael Portillo, said Mr Prodi's comments had misjudged the depth of opposition to the euro in Britain.
The suggestion that public opinion could be reversed and that an EU member-state could leave the euro in "exceptional circumstances" was similar to British Prime Minister Mr Tony Blair's claim that he could swing public opinion behind the euro.
"Tony Blair and Romano Prodi like to portray anyone who wants to keep the pound as being either biased or extreme.
