Operating a single currency is not going to be easy. European economic and (1)_____ union will not function (2)_____ hitches. (3)_____, signs of (4)_____ have already appeared. And these political, economic and social pressures will almost certainly (5)_____ in the years to come. (6)_____ EMU failure is a topic generally (7)_____ in continental Europe. And for good reason. The (8)_____ of monetary union would almost certainly slam the European Union (9)_____ political (10)_____ and the world into (11)_____ crisis. 'It would be almost as bad as a (12)_____ in Europe,' says Uwe Angenendt, chief economist (13)_____ BHF-Bank in Frankfurt. The (14)_____ contend EMU failure is not possible. They (15)_____ insist that the political (16)_____ in Europe for monetary union is simply (17)_____ strong to allow (18)_____ to fail. But they (19)_____ a simple fact: European (20)_____ concocted monetary union, and therefore they can unconcoct it.