Superpower?

Well, Patrick. Just let the British give up their pounds and you'll see how expensive the Euro will become and the financial power Europe will have.

 

Coincidence - from the London 'Guardian' August 30 :

GERMAN DEFICIT TO BREAK PACT
Germany has admitted that it would break the Eurozone's budget defiit rules again this year...Berlin said the weakness of the economy left it no choice but to allow borrowing to climb.....a spokesman at DZ Bank said 'In general terms, you can write the economy off for this year'...France is also likely to be in breach of budget limits....'

Nothing like having a 'strong' currency, eh ?...

 

In the case of strong economy I´ll choose Norway wiht its own **** oil fields...

 

Alright... I think I will have to read more European newspapers...

Well, haven't lived there for years, what did you expect?!

 

I´m actually surprised by how well everything went...switching to the same currency, Euros.

But in the future I cannot really see other alternative so I think those that still are out of Euro currency should think of joining becaue it´s gonna happen anyways like it or not. I know it hurts to give away the country´s own money but...that´s the future.

 

It's not the money that hurts - it's handing decision-making power to a bunch of unelected people at the ECB....

 

Martin, you don´t trust the Germans and the French ( among other countries ) and that they´d think for the best of your country...???

 

My (not being an International monetary expert), is the ball-buster for Germany was reunification. As West Germany they had loads-a-money. Learning a lesson after WWI, Germany was not left to its own devises after WWII, or further penalised, but invested in and restored. IMHO the correct approached unless you wanted WWIII in Europe. There was of course the added factor of the Soviets controlling the East which could not be seen to ‘outshine’ the west. By the time the unification came, West Germany was infinitely more affluent and prosperous than the East. When the dam broken, the fluidity of wealth found its own level, meaning the money, expertise and resources only flowed one way. In the long term reunited Germany will benefit, but in the short term it will suffer.

From Britain’s point of view an exchange of E1.50 to the pound is fine, which should equate in old money to Ff10 and Dm3.

No.9

 

Hmmm...short-term ; how long ago was reunification ?

 

'Short term' is now and will continue for years to come. Just removing the partition was a simple matter taking days. Interfacing the entire social and physical structure will take decades. Rome wasn't built in a day and neither can Easy Germany be converted to mirror West Germany.

Are you aware of the labour force problems? Experiences of friend of mine in Bochum, the industrial south-west. The wall comes down and fears grow hoards of East workers will flood into the West and take jobs because they will work for much less than the locals. Workers come and take jobs. Workers leave or get sacked because they can't work like their new countrymen. Problem one they don't know the cutting edge technology the West has - need time to learn. Bigger problem, the Easterners don't have anything like the work ethic of the Westerners. In the East they got the same money whether they worked 10 hours or 50 hours. If a factory runs out of a bolt, they all sit about waiting for more bolts to arrive. When they work they just work their allocated quota, there's no overtime or productivity bonus. Basically they had no concept of 'working your tail off for an extra buck' that the West knows.

So, the West has a massive new workforce that's not that good. They still need Social Security, including medical, and pensions. These men dip into the pot built by the Westerners which they have not paid anything into and now contribute disproportionately towards as they are poor or non existent wage earners,

In some respects, better the wall stayed up!

No.9

[ 31. August 2003, 04:38 PM: Message edited by: No.9 ]

 

...I guess the weak French economy must be something to do with the Revolution...

 

Or maybe that the French are a load of lazy B's that get the hump and strike when they can't have their own way. They certainly can't run a country and are probably the least likely to be part of a true intergrated Europe.



No.9

 

why is it u euros want an intigrated europe.


am i the only one that thinks nationalism is a good thing?

 

When moderated, it is.

 

So you want your country to secede from the Union?

No.9

[ 31. August 2003, 09:41 PM: Message edited by: No.9 ]

 

Well, Carl GEvM, it could be about politician's egos, but actually, it's 'cause we all luurrrrve each other....

 

Well, maybe two world wars raging in the first half of the XX. century, turning our nice little continent into a huge graveyard with some dozen million deaths, made us think about nationalism and the value of peace.

Why Europe?

Just some numbers:

Population (EU-15): 378 mn, Candidate Countries (CC-12, not counting Turkey): 198 mn
GDP (EU-15): EUR 7,965 billion, CC-12: EUR 525 billion

Will take a awful long time to boost Eastern Europe back into play, though. Enjoy the time until then.

Cheers,

 

The French speaking people of Quebec don't even want to be a part of Canada. I doubt France would want to be part of a integrated Europe. French people have always been very independent. Even in Louisiana there are many Creoles (descendants of French settlers) who do not speak english.

 

So you want your country to secede from the Union?

No.9 </font>[/QUOTE]Dont mix up Seccession of states from a non-integrated US.

We are one nation, mainly because we are nearly all the same, culturally. (Mostly)

Europe is different, for instance, even Alabamans are more like New Yorkers than Frenchmen are from Germans.

 

I woulden't be so sure of that, I have to say that actually the French are very much like the English who are very much like the Germans, we are seperated by language and water, little more. Our histories, our culture, our peoples, all are irrevocably linked. I think you will find that the french are not so much keen on independance as proud, as are the British and Germans. The main reason people have for not wanting to become part of europe is that we will loose our national identity, as long as we speak English, drink tea and laugh when people fart this is not going to happen. A united Europe would be a fantastic thing as long as the nations could quit slagging each other off and coming up with petty arguments.

Thats my

Hey, this is cool I didnt realise I could bring up these images: