As the EU strengthens the uk wants out

[RB TexLa]

Things that really make no sense. Are they that scrared of of being part of something they can't take all the credit for?



Saving the Euro, Dividing the Union
Could Europe's Deeper Integration Push the United Kingdom Out?
R. Daniel Kelemen
January 21, 2013


In an article I wrote last May, I argued that Europe's future would be defined by a "new normal." The road to economic recovery would be long and painful, but thanks to aggressive intervention by the European Central Bank and the new continent-wide governance structures being put in place, the eurozone's collapse was no longer a serious risk. The credit ratings agencies now seem to agree. The year 2012 ended with Standard & Poor's upgrading its assessment of Greek sovereign debt. Last week, Fitch declared that the odds of a eurozone breakup are now "very unlikely." Although record unemployment persists in the periphery of the common currency area and growth prospects have dimmed for Germany and other core countries, there is a growing consensus that the worst may be over.

Instead of unraveling, as so many skeptics had predicted, European countries responded to the economic crisis by taking significant steps toward deepening their integration. The continent's leaders granted EU institutions greater control over the fiscal policy of member states, ratified a fiscal compact, and reached an agreement on the outlines of a banking union. European Central Bank President Mario Draghi emphasized the bank's commitment to do "whatever it takes" to save the common currency.

But this incremental deepening of European integration may come at a cost: Not all 27 member states want to be part of a closer union -- least of all the United Kingdom. Talk of a "Grexit" from the euro has been replaced by talk of "Brexit" -- a British exit -- from the European Union itself. Euro-skepticism in the United Kingdom has reached historic heights. The U.K. Independence Party, which is committed to London's leaving the EU, has overtaken the Liberal Democrats as the third most popular party. Recent polls suggest that a majority of British residents favor an exit. British Prime Minister David Cameron, facing enormous pressure from Euro-skeptic backbenchers in his own party, will soon deliver a major speech on the United Kingdom's relationship with the EU. He is likely to call for the repatriation of powers from the EU in areas such as social policy, employment, and justice, and promise a national referendum on a "new deal" with Europe. Meanwhile, many leaders on the continent are tiring of Cameron's anti-European rhetoric and his demands for special treatment and opt-outs.

As the EU takes steps to strengthen its economic and political union, it is likely to drive a deeper wedge between core eurozone states and member states outside of the common currency that are unwilling to go along. Officials in Brussels have suggested that tensions caused by tighter coordination in the common currency area can be addressed by developing new forms of what is known as two-speed or multi-speed integration, whereby core groups of countries move ahead with deeper union on certain policies, while others opt out. Although this flexible approach has worked in the past, including for the establishment of the eurozone itself, there are reasons to believe it may be less tenable today as the EU moves toward an unprecedentedly close economic, fiscal, and political union. Flexible, à la carte approaches will not by themselves resolve the tensions between the countries committed to deepening their union and those refusing to take part.


http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/138768/r-daniel-kelemen/saving-the-euro-dividing-the-union

[tama]

1. Small fact aka "inconvenient truth"

One of the few AAA rated EZ countries, also Finland's budget is heavily in the red. Why? Because oil (imported from Russia) follows world prices and it's not 20 or 50 bucks per barrel, but 100 bucks. And although the prices fluctuate, in long term the trend is up up up. People live in real economy, energy economy instead of financial bubble, and all Brussel seems to care about is propping up dead cat banks.

Centrifugal sentiments towards Brussels and integration on bankster terms need not be wondered.

[Spider Jerusalem]

2. It makes perfect sense, really.

You have to consider this from the British perspective. The British political establishment of both major parties at present sees no compelling reason to go on the Euro. . The decision to not join the Euro seems to've been vindicated. And you can't explain to the average voter why the UK should be on the hook to help bail out Greece or Spain or other Eurozone countries when the UK isn't on the Euro and won't be, or why the EU should have fiscal oversight of the UK. Moves to fiscal integration are going to necessarily alienate the UK.

Also: the UK pays more to the EU than it gets back (net UK contributions to the EU are at £3.6 billion a year). And EU membership has also meant a loss of national sovereignty over some specific issues--EU immigration policies for instance...never mind that a lot of Britons take advantage of them to live in Spain, or France; and other things like the EU court ruling that prisoners should have the right to vote. Right-wing, Eurosceptic parties have been very keen to exploit these issues to their political advantage; most Britons are not too keen on the whole EU thing anyway, and indeed most Britons probably wouldn't consider themselves "European".

In the long run UK withdrawal from the EU is probably profoundly unwise for a number of reasons (the Eurozone is the UK's largest trading partner, and access to the EU free trade area is a major reason to stay in); but a majority of public sentiment is in favour of withdrawal for a variety of reasons.

[pampango]

3. Meanwhile, "Germany and France will table joint proposals for deeper eurozone integration

by May and are "working closely" to get a deal on EU's seven-year budget next month, the two leaders said on Tuesday (22 January) during Franco-German festivities.

Celebrating 50 years of the Franco-German Elysee peace treaty did not go unnoticed in Berlin. Some 700 French politicians, students, mayors and artists descended upon the German capital. President Joachim Gauck chaired a gala concert. The Bundestag made room for double its normal capacity to host a joint session of the French and German parliaments.

Chancellor Angela Merkel had several meals and meetings with French President Francois Hollande, whom she now calls by his first name. "Perhaps it's our best kept secret that chemistry is right. Then we can work together in peace," Merkel quipped.

But in remarks both to the media and to the joint parliamentary session, she went further than ever before in accommodating some of Hollande's ideas, who, as a left-wing politician, has campaigned against Merkel's austerity drive before being elected president."

http://euobserver.com/political/118807

It is interesting that as the UK trends toward less and less involvement with the EU, historical enemies France and Germany are working together to increase integration within Europe. A few decades ago it would have been surprising to see that nationalists in the UK are more suspicious of war-time ally France than French nationalists are of war-time enemy Germany.

Europe is an interesting place.