Thatcher 1990

[TimberWolf]

The Prime Minister Yes, I agree entirely with my right hon. Friend. It would do just that. It would also mean that there would have to be enormous transfers of money from one country to another. It would cost us a great deal of money. One reason why some of the poorer countries want it is that they would get those big transfers of money. We are trying to contest that. If we have a single currency or a locked currency, the differences come out substantially in unemployment or vast movements of people from one country to another. Many people who talk about a single currency have never considered its full implications.

I think that I would put it just a little differently from the right hon. Gentleman [Tony Benn], although I recognise some of the force of some of the points that he makes. When the Delors proposals for economic and monetary union came out, it was said immediately by my right hon. Friend [ Nigel Lawson ] the then Chancellor of the Exchequer that this was not really about monetary policy at all but about a back door to a federal Europe, taking many democratic powers away from democratically elected bodies and giving them to non-elected bodies. I believe fervently that that is true, which is why I shall have nothing to do with their definition of economic and monetary union.

Maggie Thatcher, Hard ECUs, and the Eurozone shambles | afoe | A Fistful of Euros | European Opinion

And thus did spake the Thatcher, and so it came to pass as had been foretold.


And all hail Godron, saviour of the universe (twice), for keeping us out too (possibly for mental reasons, but hey)?


Meanwhile...
Britain draws up survival plans for life after the euro to avoid plunging into another recession | Mail Online

Britain is drawing up contingency plans for a catastrophic collapse of the euro which experts fear could plunge our economy back into a recession ‘beyond comprehension’.

Or should the UK bite the bullet and ride in to Europe in shining armour to stand shoulder to shoulder with Germany, laying chequebook and sovereignty on the table and announcing, "ve bist in. Ve vill stand or fall vist Gemany. Have a large sum of money Greece, and you too Italy, and there's more where that came from".

[doodab]

It's a gamble. We need to plan for the € collapsing but we also need to consider that if a true US of Europe emerges over the next 10 years and we are left out that could also be disadvantageous for us.

[sasguru]

It's a gamble. We need to plan for the € collapsing but we also need to consider that if a true US of Europe emerges over the next 10 years and we are left out that could also be disadvantageous for us.

Or advantageous.
Plenty of economies thrive on the edge of large ones by having other specialisms.

[doodab]

Or advantageous.
Plenty of economies thrive on the edge of large ones by having other specialisms.

Yes, it could go either way.

[Mich the Tester]

Yes, it could go either way.

It's a game of two halves.

[AtW]

Or advantageous.
Plenty of economies thrive on the edge of large ones by having other specialisms.

What's your specialism?

[Gibbon]

It's a gamble. We need to plan for the € collapsing but we also need to consider that if a true US of Europe emerges over the next 10 years and we are left out that could also be disadvantageous for us.

Consider, fecking nonsense! consider your consideration again, carefully.

For a starter, think about the rise of the american nation and the current fragmenting of modern europe including our own United Kingdom with devolution et al.

[Churchill]

Or advantageous.
Plenty of economies thrive on the edge of large ones by having other specialisms.

What's your specialism?

Oh the ironing!

[TimberWolf]

Couldn't this be resolved were Greece and other countries borrowing money required to put down some collateral? Something tangible that people [easterners probably] would buy or invest in? Okay, I mentioned Corfu the other day tongue in cheek, but maybe privatisations or something. Not sure what else 'something' could comprise. Have Greece got nothing of value?

[doodab]

For a starter, think about the rise of the american nation and the current fragmenting of modern europe including our own United Kingdom with devolution et al.

That is exactly what I am thinking of. The american nation was pretty fragmented itself, once upon a time, and it still is in many ways. Much of what got it started and what makes it hang together was adversity, fighting for a common cause, which is something Europe now has for possibly the first time in it's history. Ask the average European if they wanted more integration 5 years ago and they may well have said "no", but now given a choice between further integration or a return to the pre EU days many of them might feel rather differently. Even the Germans.