posted
As of 40 minutes ago, Sweden voted "No" on membership for the EMU, with 56% vs. 42% for the "Yes"-side. I consider it a step backwards, I fear the consequences this will have on the Denmark- and UK-vote.
The average swede, living outside of the big cities, is low on confidence for the politicians in Stockholm and especially in Brussels and don't care much for being "part" of the rest of Europe. Stockholm and Malm� were the only cities to have a dominant yes-vote, yet still made out 40%, make of that what you will. In any case, the participation rate was 80% overall, which while not as high as the EU-membership vote of 1994 is still higher than any other election in our time. Yay, I guess.
Too bad that so many people here still mistrust the EU concept and mistakenly think that our Krona will hold its own against the Dollar and Euro for an extended time, it already being rather weak in comparison.
Now we'll have to wait 5, maybe 10 years, depending on how much the Greens and the Centrists can stall it, until we get another vote. By then, up to ten other countries may have already voted yes on EMU and will set better examples than us.
Add to that, our foreign minister is dead, our outward face to the world, her successor is a controversial old piece of work that won't get into shouting distance of her bargaining-power and motivation.
I picked the wrong year to finally get interested in domestic politics...
Registered: Aug 1999
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posted
At least you got to have a referendum. Here we never have them, just endless promises and debate as to whether we should have one at all ever. Now Blair is saying he's going to start working towards membership of the Euro - but he's left it too long, procrastinating. He's now in no position to do anything about it, he wasted his early years in office when he had the honeymoon effect to make such things possible. No Euro, no ban on fox hunting. . . just bullshit.
And now Gordon Brown the Chancellor of the Exchequer has spent too much time with his feet under the table, content to have personal control of one of the world's strongest currencies (and economies); he's lost sight of what's best for the country as a whole. He'll use any attempt Blair makes to introduce the Euro, half-assed though that attempt may be, to launch his challenge for the Labour leadership.
Who was it asking why we want to move to New Zealand? 8)
quote:Originally posted by Lee: And now Gordon Brown the Chancellor of the Exchequer has spent too much time with his feet under the table, content to have personal control of one of the world's strongest currencies (and economies); he's lost sight of what's best for the country as a whole. He'll use any attempt Blair makes to introduce the Euro, half-assed though that attempt may be, to launch his challenge for the Labour leadership.
Who was it asking why we want to move to New Zealand? 8)
Well, to be fair, the Euro did fail four out of the five economic tests. And perhaps it will be a good idea to wait and see; the Growth and Stability pact is already falling apart (France is saying it will have to break it, Germany already is). The main problem is setting one interest rate for the entire Euro zone; it's impossible to get one that will work well for all the economies. Finally, of course, you have the problem that the Euro is seen by most in the EU apparatus as the first step to the Grand Unified European Superstate, which is not exactly viewed as desireable by many. If you think interest rates are hard to set, wait till you get to foreign policy!!!
And as for New Labour, well, they've actually turned out to be rather crap over all, haven't they? Botched reforms of the Lords and legal system, public services disintegrating, with the only apparent response of the govt to set new restrictive and often unsuitable targets. Add to that the Dear Leaders refusal to have a referendum on the EU Constitution and the seemingly incessant hagglings over the Euro.
It's enough to make you nostalgic for the Conservatives....
Registered: Feb 2002
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posted
Almost. But the failing of the five tests was hardly surprising given it was Brown who set the tests. "Now, let's see. . . Can the Euro leap tall buildings with a single bound? Noo. . . Next!"
posted
lol; actually the tests were relatively sensible. For this government at least. Y'know, if they renamed the Euro the pound we'd probably have joined in about 5 seconds.
One thing about the Euro coins though; they've deleted Norway from Scandinavia, which has a a very disturbing effect on the shape of that area
Registered: Feb 2002
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Cartman
just made by the Presbyterian Church
Member # 256
posted
One EU interest rate = Never Gonna Happen.
I'm not too keen on the Euro myself, it has made life considerably more expensive while not providing much benefit in return. Maybe if (IF) France and Italy patched their fucking corrupt economies and adhered to the damn stability pact instead of shoving their financial mismanagement down the smaller states' throats, the Euro could actually be competitive with the dollar (which it hasn't been for the last, oh, DECADE, and certainly isn't going to be anywhere in the foreseeable future now that another dozen Eastern European anchors are dragging along the bottom of the monetary ocean) and the Grand Unification Theory wouldn't read so much like bad fiction.
Registered: Nov 1999
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Now if we can just get rid of our president and find anyone worth voting for....
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Registered: Aug 2002
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posted
I was never pro-Euro beforehand, but I have come to appreciate the advantages. And most of the prices here are not higher than before they introduced the new currency - with a few prominent exceptions. On the whole I think it is not so bad that our "beloved" D-Mark has gone.
Oh and about the Euro being competitive with the Dollar - at the moment it's the Dollar that is under pressure, or hadn't you noticed?
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted
The Euro has been stronger than the dollar for about three years, IIRC. I too appreciate the benefits nowadays. But unless I move into Timo's closet... *shrugs*
-------------------- "I'm nigh-invulnerable when I'm blasting!" Mel Gibson, X-Men
Registered: Aug 1999
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posted
@Lee: And to think that the Czechs will join the EMU before Sweden...
-------------------- Lister: Don't give me the "Star Trek" crap! It's too early in the morning. - Red Dwarf "The Last Day"
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted
Lee: I went to Prague a couple of years ago; it's a really nice city. Providing you avoid the British tourists.
-------------------- "I am an almost extinct breed, an old-fashioned gentleman, which means I can be a cast-iron son-of-a-bitch when it suits me." --Jubal Harshaw
Registered: Feb 2002
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posted
So Lee has to avoid himself? That will be difficult, seeing as he's a chubby chub chub.
Not a chubby chubby chub chub, like Tim, but still close behind.
-------------------- Yes, you're despicable, and... and picable... and... and you're definitely, definitely despicable. How a person can get so despicable in one lifetime is beyond me. It isn't as though I haven't met a lot of people. Goodness knows it isn't that. It isn't just that... it isn't... it's... it's despicable.
Registered: Mar 1999
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