Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher minced no words when expressing her frustration about Brussels' plans for a single European currency, documents released from the Irish government archives have revealed.
"In talking of a single currency, Delors must have had a rush of blood to the head. We are not going to have a single currency", the Dublin notes dating back to 1990 recorded Thatcher as saying at the time.
She was referring to then-European Commission President Jacques Delors, who is thought to have played an important role in designing the euro and creating the EU's single market.
According to the archives, Thatcher accused the European court of giving more powers to the European Commission, and describing Delors as a "mere appointee".
"The days of appointed commissioners must be numbered. We must give power to the council of ministers. I am not handing over authority to a non-elected bureaucracy […]. I am getting completely fed up with the European community trying to tie us up with bureaucratic regulations", she noted.
The archives also revealed that Thatcher lambasted a central bank of then-12 EU member states over its efforts to rein in inflation, a task that she claimed could be resolved by the bank allying with the deutschmark.
"They would think of economic growth and jobs and inflation as equal objectives and mix them all up. All we want is an effective gold standard and the deutschmark provides us with that", the ex-prime minister argued.
The publication of the archives comes a few days after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson hailed London and Brussels wrapping up the "biggest" post-Brexit trade deal following months of difficult talks and missed deadlines.
