Paper Titles & Abstracts

In the midst of the current financial and economic crisis, the topic of the internationalization of the Chinese currency, the Renminbi (RMB), acquires particular relevance for the European Union and for the Eurozone in particular. If the strategy is successful, this would mean that China would open up its capital account and financial markets and transform its economic growth model. It would also mean that China would become a major player in the reshaping of the economic and financial world order, thus becoming a potential challenger to the status quo powers, namely the Unites States and Europe. This paper has a twofold aim. First it wants to explore the likelihood of the RMB challenging the position of the Euro as the second most used international currency after the US dollar. Once this challenge is assessed, the paper moves on to discern the implications of this trend for Europe. Is the internationalization of the RMB, and the financial opening that it implies, a golden opportunity for Europe to strengthen its commercial, financial and political ties with China, or will it be just another step toward the decline of Europe in global monetary, financial, economic and thus political affairs?