Stolen Holesale From a Foreign NG....

I have NO IDEA if this post has any credability or not. I was always under
the impression that the EURO was the first step in a United States of
Europe, but apparently, that's not true...

Anyway, for curiosity's sake only...
----------------------------------------------

""In an interview with Belgian daily De Morgen (18 March) Commission
President Jose Barroso's economic advisor Professor Paul de Grauwe has
argued that the euro has damaged Italy's economy, and that without
"political union" in Europe, the euro will collapse in ten to twenty years.
He also argued that the EU's Lisbon process, which forms the backbone of the
Commission's efforts to make Europe more competitive, "is best buried."

He said, "Sometimes I wonder: do we still need the European Union? I start
to have doubts about that. It is sufficient that countries open up their
economy. You don't need to do that in the context of the European Union."
Asked whether Europe has added value he said, "I'm not sure about that.
Probably the Union creates a framework to keep markets open in an organised
way. In that respect it has added value."

He went on to argue that "the euro is a bad thing for the Italian economy.
I'm afraid that Spain is also evolving in the same direction. If that
happens, we are stuck with a big problem." He said that developing a
"political union" is the only way to mitigate the problems created by the
euro, saying "A political union is the logical end-point of a currency
union. But if that political union fails to materialise, then in the long
term the euro area cannot continue to exist." He said, "Now that nobody
appears to want that political union, you can begin to wonder whether
monetary union was such a good idea. I hardly dare predict that, in the
longer term, the monetary union will collapse. not next year, but on a time
frame of ten or twenty years. There is not a single monetary union which
survived without political union. They have all collapsed. You invariably
get big shocks. A monetary union becomes very fragile without a political
framework. With the exception of a Don Quixote like Guy Verhofstadt [Belgian
Prime Minister and author of The United States of Europe], I see nobody who
is pushing the case for a political union." He said, "A large free trade
zone remains the only feasible option for Europe. It's an illusion that we
can realise a political union in Europe in the near future. Political
unification has failed. But that is a big problem for the currency union.
That is in danger."

He went on to say: "Lisbon was a political fiction. The Lisbon process is
best buried. The whole process, for that matter, is based on the wrong
diagnosis. We have built a system of social security that gives people too
many incentives not to work. They can easily interrupt their career and
leave the labour market early. For many people it is financially
unattractive to work. So we shouldn't be surprised that economic growth is
subdued." He went on to say that productivity per hour worked in the EU is
the same as in the US, but that because Europeans take more time off, growth
is slower in the US where people work more and consume more"."



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Relevant Pages

  • From the ECU to the Euro
    ... honors paper for a history class, ... Here on RCC, there was a thread recently, "Will the Euro Survive?" ... I was surprised that no one from Europe addressed that directly. ... the German-Austrian Union and the Scandavian Monetary ...
    (rec.collecting.coins)
  • More on Italy and the euro
    ... "political union" in Europe, the euro will collapse in ten to twenty years. ... do we still need the European Union? ...
    (uk.politics.misc)
  • Re: More on Italy and the euro
    ... President Jose Barroso's economic advisor Professor Paul de Grauwe has ... "political union" in Europe, the euro will collapse in ten to twenty years. ...
    (uk.politics.misc)
  • Re: More on Italy and the euro
    ... President Jose Barroso's economic advisor Professor Paul de Grauwe has ... "political union" in Europe, the euro will collapse in ten to twenty years. ...
    (uk.politics.misc)
  • Re: More on Italy and the euro
    ... argued that the euro has damaged Italy's economy, ... "political union" in Europe, the euro will collapse in ten to twenty years. ...
    (uk.politics.misc)