andrewducker: (Default)
andrewducker ([personal profile] andrewducker) wrote2018-09-12 12:00 pm

Interesting Links for 12-09-2018

jack: (Default)

[personal profile] jack 2018-09-12 02:35 pm (UTC)(link)
That raises a good question. We currently have lots of exceptions that were necessary to persuade us to join at all. Lots of those were good for the UK or some parts of the UK, but not really desirable overall, and if we're forced to give them up as part of rejoining in the future, fair enough.

But I am a bit scared of the Euro. Leaving and rejoining would probably mean euro. I always WANTED a single currency. I still WANT a single currency. But it seems to have been premature judging from the pain in southern Europe, if northern europe is not willing to invest a lot more in southern europe without mandating a lot of terrible austerity.

Do we say, well, hopefully it will be ok for us, the downsides are bad but the upsides are worth it and we don't have a choice? I guess so.

Hopefully we'll pay more attention to European politics than we did before. Although I'm not hopeful. The perception that the european government is too remote to influence *is* a problem, which I hope gets better.
jack: (Default)

[personal profile] jack 2018-09-12 03:26 pm (UTC)(link)
I don't think that a single currency can be successful in the long term without much more political union. And the current situation makes things more likely to fracture than unify.

Yeah :(

Schengen, on the other hand, will be awesome.

Yes! Down with borders!
danieldwilliam: (Default)

[personal profile] danieldwilliam 2018-09-12 03:56 pm (UTC)(link)
I think the specific requirement for a currency union to work are suffiently large and timely fiscal transfers and a single market. The EU / Eurozone largely has a single market. The fiscal transfers have been problematic because of the lack of the necessary political structures to decide on them and administer them and a lack of political and social cohesion. The EU is not a nation-state. That seems to be an important aspect of making a single currency work.

I think people in the USA don't much mind that their federal taxes are spent on e.g. maintaining military bases in poor states that they don't personally live in the way that Germans or Brits might mind having to spend "their" money on other countries troops based in Romania or Bulgaria.