Risky, Costly and Complicated

Eichengreen listed the risks for countries tempted to abandon the Euro

"[…] The temptation to exit the euro area remained, the technical barriers to exit would be almost impossible to surmount. It would be straightforward for a parliament or congress to pass a law mandating that the state and other employers would henceforth pay workers and pensioners in the new national currency. But with wages and other incomes redenominated into that national currency, it would become necessary to redenominate the mortgages and credit card debts of residents into the national currency as well. Currency depreciation would otherwise have adverse balance sheet effects for households, leading to financial distress and bankruptcies."