AMSTERDAM, Netherlands, June 1 (UPI) -- Dutch citizens, voting Wednesday on the proposed European Constitution, are frustrated with the way the euro has affected their pocketbooks, observers say.
Although unemployment has jumped from 3.3 percent in 2001 to an estimated 6.7 percent this year and the economy has been flat for nearly two years, the Dutch still pay more than twice what Britons pay into the European Union.
Johan Verbruggen, head of Holland's Bureau of Economic Analysis, said having a common currency, the euro, meant the Dutch central bank had no effective means of halting the boom under monetary union, the Telegraph reported.
Interest rates set by the European Central Bank for the whole eurozone were barely half Holland's 4.5 percent inflation rate in the final phase of the spending spree, which invited "reckless" behavior.
Polls show that frustration with the euro is contributing to negative voter sentiments on the EU constitution.
