A man who isn’t afraid to speak out against the Eurozone is former President of the Czech Republic, Vaclav Klaus.  He served as President from 2003 to 2013 and co-founded the Civic Democratic Party, the Czech Republic's largest center-right political party.

He is a well-known Eurosceptic and believes the European Union is “too undemocratic”. He famously initially refused to sign the Lisbon treaty of Lisbon, but eventually did so in November 2009.  

Speaking to Saxo TV on the eve of the launch of his new book: “Europe: The shattering of illusions”, he explains why, despite recent positive Eurozone GDP data and a growing trade surplus for the euro area, the EU is still not out of economic trouble.

He told Saxo TV: “To be happy with two to three weeks of development is a tragic mistake. I am absolutely sure that this was the wrong project, the wrong idea, and I am absolutely sure that it can’t go on in the future, so there must be a radical change in this respect. 18, or in the EU, 28 countries can’t create one single currency in the foreseeable future.”

He adds: “ I like a recent article written in Canada which says ‘Saving the euro by opening the exit door’. I think this is an excellent summary of the situation.”

Vaclav Klaus is a long term opponent of the centrally implemented economic policies of the EU and the common currency. He says the euro isn't beneficial and thinks different countries will react differently to the appreciation of the euro.

But pro-Europeans may argue that countries like Greece, would be worse off today without the support of the EU. Vaclav Klaus doesn't agree with this argument and thinks that in fact those countries are actually "victims".

He says: “Let some countries, in a friendly and organised way, leave the Eurozone. That’s the only future for Europe plus for those countries. Those countries did not create the problems of the euro, those countries are the victims of the wrong system.”

So what about a country like Italy? It has had to adapt to EU austerity measures and now the trade surplus in the country is expanding. The euro area's third-largest economy recorded a trade surplus of EUR 3.62 billion in December vs. 3.03bn in November driven by a jump in exports of 5.1 percent month-on-month. Mads Koefoed, Saxo Bank’s head of Macro Economics, says economic growth in Italy will remain “very modest” but explains "the Italians, to their credit, have turned their foreign sector around after years of structural deficits".

Speaking about the current situation in Italy, Vaclav Klaus says: “Italy, as everyone knows, has had a zero rate of growth in the last 15 years since 2001. This country needs real change and the change will not come from changing some monetary indicators; the change is a systemic one, and I don’t expect that Italy can continue in the same spirit.”