I AGREE with L Spiteri (You Say, Saturday, November 8) that Germany's declining economy is due to a combination of factors, but the Single Currency is certainly one of them.

Given its economic weakness, Germany needs to be able to set its own (lower) interest rates to boost manufacturing and to control the value of its currency.

With a single one-size-fits-all euro interest rate it can do neither.

In May this year, Volkswagen announced first quarter profits down by two-thirds on the same period last year.

Their Finance Director specifically blamed the rise in value of the euro, which had surged against the dollar by 24 per cent since January 2002.

The German economist speaking on a recent Radio 4 In Business programme may well not have mentioned the euro.

But if you want to find out what is really going on in a country's economy, don't ask an economist - ask a business.

With apologies to all economists...

PHILIP BUSHILL-MATTHEWS

MEP, European Parliament, Brussels

(& Conservative Office, Sansome Place, Worcester).