Showing posts with label the euro. Show all posts
Showing posts with label the euro. Show all posts
Thursday, December 30, 2021
Europe Marks 20 Years of the Euro | DW News
Tuesday, March 11, 2014
Mark Carney: Independent Scotland Must Sign Up for the Euro to Join the EU
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| Mark Carney has warned an independent Scotland would have to sign up for the euro to join the EU |
The Bank of England’s Governor has warned an independent Scotland would be forced to promise to replace the pound with the euro if it wanted European Union membership.
In a major blow to Alex Salmond’s economic case for separation, Mark Carney told a Westminster inquiry that all new applicants to the EU have to join the single currency in the “fullness of time”.
He also told MPs it is a “distinct possibility” the Royal Bank of Scotland would have to move its headquarters south of the Border if there is a ‘yes’ vote in September’s independence referendum.
In triple blow to Alex Salmond’s economic case for independence, the Governor said a separate Scotland’s taxpayers would have to guarantee billions of pounds of deposits held by Scottish banks in England. » | Simon Johnson, Scottish Political Editor | Tuesday, March 11, 2014
Saturday, March 09, 2013
SPIEGEL ONLINE INTERNATIONAL: Anti-euro political parties in Europe in recent years have so far tended to be either well to the right of center or, as evidenced by the recent vote in Italy, anything but staid. But in Germany, change may be afoot. A new party is forming this spring, intent on abandoning European efforts to prop up the common currency. And its founders are a collection of some of the country's top economists and academics.
Named Alternative für Deutschland (Alternative for Germany), the group has a clear goal: "the dissolution of the euro in favor of national currencies or smaller currency unions." The party also demands an end to aid payments and the dismantling of the European Stability Mechanism bailout fund.
"Democracy is eroding," reads a statement on its website (German only). "The will of the people regarding (decisions relating to the euro) is never queried and is not represented in parliament. The government is depriving voters of a voice through disinformation, is pressuring constitutional organs, like parliament and the Constitutional Court, and is making far-reaching decisions in committees that have no democratic legitimacy."
The sentiment, of course, is hardly new. Euro-skeptics are everywhere these days, particularly in those southern European countries that have been hit hardest by the crisis that continues to plague the common currency. And even in mainstream parties, concerns about the path on which the EU currently finds itself are common. But in Germany, as elsewhere in northern Europe, the most vocal critique of the euro has tended to come from right-wing populist parties. » | Charles Hawley | Friday, March 08, 2013
Thursday, September 27, 2012
It is seldom that leaders live long enough to witness their own induction into the annals of history. But that was the rare honor reserved for former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl this week. He took his first step into the historical sunset on Tuesday, when he visited the conservative parliamentary group in Berlin for the first time in a decade.
There, Kohl took the opportunity to encourage his center-right successors not to abandon faith in Europe and to continue fighting for the common currency. "We must preserve Europe and continue to strengthen it," he told lawmakers from his Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), according to meeting participants. "Conservatives must fight for Europe," he said. Participants also said that Kohl urged Germany to have more patience with Greece as it struggles to remain in the euro zone.
Tuesday's visit to the capital was a rare outing for the 82-year-old Kohl. The former chancellor has been in fragile health since taking a serious fall in his home in 2008, and his public appearances have been limited. Furthermore, his speech, always heavily accented, has become even more difficult to understand with age.
This week marks the 30th anniversary of Kohl's first election to the chancellery, in 1982. Widely revered as the father of German reunification and as a primary mover behind the introduction of the European common currency, he will be center stage again on Thursday, when he will appear at the German History Museum in Berlin for the unveiling of a new stamp in his honor. » | cgh -- with reporting by Philipp Wittrock | Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Monday, May 28, 2012
Tsipras, the 37-year-old rising star in Greek politics, lays his Ray-Ban sunglasses on the table. It's Tuesday afternoon, and he looks exhausted. Indeed, he has a packed schedule: first Paris and then Berlin, where he met with Gregor Gysi and then with Jürgen Trittin and Sigmar Gabriel, senior officials in Germany's Left Party, Green Party and Social Democratic Party, respectively. Tsipras was the surprise victor when his Radical Left (Syriza) party took second place in May 6 general elections in Greece. Because leaders were unable to form a coalition government, a new election will be held on June 17. Most believe that Tsipras will attract even more votes in this second election.
Tsipras' tour through "Europe's two most important capital cities," as he put it, was primarily about cultivating his image. The civil engineer, already politically active in high school as a member of the Communist Youth of Greece, numbers among the strongest critics of the EU-International Monetary Fund (IMF) strategy for Greece, which calls for radical budget cuts and austerity in return for international aid. Should he win the June 17 election, Tsipras plans to ditch the terms of the bailout agreements struck with its creditors. On the campaign trail, one of his slogans has been that Greece is in danger of becoming a "German colony." But he toned things down in Berlin, saying: "We want to persuade, not blackmail." » | Interview conducted by Julia Amalia Heyer and Manfred Ertel | Translated from the German by Josh Ward | Monday, May 28, 2012
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Saturday, May 26, 2012
In an interview in The Daily Telegraph, Theresa May says “work is ongoing” to restrict European immigration in the event of a financial collapse. People from throughout the EU, with the exception of new member countries such as Romania and Bulgaria, are able to work anywhere in the single market.
However, there are growing concerns that if Greece was forced to leave the euro, it would effectively go bankrupt and millions could lose their jobs and consider looking for work abroad.
The crisis could spread quickly to other vulnerable countries such as Spain, Ireland and Portugal, although Britain is regarded as a safe haven because it is outside the single currency.
Details of the contingency plan emerged as the euro crisis deepened further yesterday. » | Robert Winnett, and James Kirkup | Friday, May 25, 2012
My comment:
This woman is a joke! How long has she been telling us that immigration is going to be brought under control? In fact, under this administration, immigration has gone up! They can’t control the borders now. What makes her think they’ll be able to control the borders if the euro “collapses”? In any case, wouldn’t an influx of Greeks, Portuguese, or Spaniards be preferable for this country than Third World immigrants who have little in common with our heritage, and in any case have no desire or determination to integrate? Mrs. May, your words sound awfully hollow. Do you really expect us to believe this nonsense? You wouldn’t be able to control the flow of the pious into a prostitute’s parlour. – © Mark
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Alexis Tsipras, the leftist leader who could hold the whole of Europe to ransom if he wins the Greek election on June 17, breezed into Berlin on Tuesday to tell Germans they don't own the euro zone, and that they will endanger the whole currency block if they insist on stringent austerity for his recession-hit country.
The 37-year-old leader of the Radical Left party (Syriza), which came second in the May 6 election and is expected to emerge as the strongest political force in the repeat vote, reiterated his determination to abandon the radical budget cuts that were imposed on Greece in return for international aid -- a move EU leaders and German politicians in particular have warned could force Greece out of the euro.
The charismatic leader had visited Paris on Monday as part of a tour to convince a skeptical European public that he is not bent on wrecking the euro. In Berlin, he was hosted by Germany's opposition Left Party, which agreed a six-point program with Syriza calling for an end to austerity, taxes on banks and the rich and economic stimulus measures.
He didn't get an audience with Chancellor Angela Merkel. But his message to her, conveyed via more than 200 journalists packed into a building just a few hundred meters from her chancellery building, was loud and clear. He had no intention of "blackmailing" the German people, he said. But then he appeared to do just that, saying the bailout terms would have to be renegotiated, or else. » | David Crossland | Tuesday, May 22, 2012
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THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Angela Merkel 'astonished' by austerity debate as Germany left increasingly isolated on Eurobonds: The German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she finds it “astonishing” that her pro-austerity stance is the cause of controversy, as Germany found itself increasingly isolated on the issue of eurobonds ahead of Wednesday’s European Union leaders summit. ¶ The German Chancellor said that the current debate in Europe and beyond “gives the impression that, for us, saving, as such, is pleasurable”. ¶ “It’s just about not spending more than you collect. It’s astonishing that this simple fact leads to such debates,” she said in a speech in Berlin. » | Angela Monaghan, and Philip Aldrick | Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Thilo Sarrazin, the former board member of Germany's central bank who caused outrage two years ago with a bestseller criticizing the impact of Muslim immigrants on German society, presented a new book on Tuesday that could strike a similar chord with Germans: "Europe Doesn't Need the Euro."
In his latest work, the combative politician, a maverick member of the opposition center-left Social Democratic Party, controversially argues that Germany is being pressured to bail out the euro zone because it perpetrated the Holocaust.
Sarrazin writes that supporters of euro bonds in Germany "are driven by that very German reflex, that we can only finally atone for the Holocaust and World War II when we have put all our interests and money into European hands," according to excerpts published in German media ahead of the book launch. » | cro | Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Monday, May 21, 2012
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: A wave of “extremism and xenophobia” will sweep across Europe unless political leaders take urgent action to deal with the debt crisis, Nick Clegg has warned.
The Deputy Prime Minister predicted that arguments in Britain about whether to pull out of the European Union would be “like a small side show compared to the rise of political extremism” in the next few years.
In his bleakest assessment to date, Mr Clegg admitted that his beloved European project faces a “huge” crisis of confidence as the public loses faith in the EU “as a whole”.
Mr Clegg’s intervention followed warnings from Cabinet ministers that the eurozone debt crisis is approaching a “moment of clarity” when it is “quite likely” that Greece will be forced out of the single currency.
In an interview with the German magazine, Der Spiegel, the Liberal Democrat leader said EU nations are “condemned to work with each other” but warned that nine European governments have “fallen” since 2009.
“Everybody should be more active,” he said. “At the moment, what’s happening is you have one emergency summit after another; you have one election after the other; you have one bail out after the other.
“This cannot carry on because the combination of economic insecurity and political paralysis, we know this from the history of our continent, is the ideal recipe for an increase in extremism and xenophobia. » | Tim Ross, and James Kirkup | Monday, May 21, 2012
THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: Ken Clarke attacks 'nationalist' eurosceptic Tories: MPs who want a referendum on membership of the European Union are “right-wing nationalists” who would bring "disaster" to Britain, Kenneth Clarke has said. ¶ The Justice Secretary, who is regarded as the most "europhile" Conservative Cabinet minister, said calls to consider withdrawing from the EU were "a dangerous irrelevance" to the economic crisis. » | Tim Ross, Political Correspondent | Sunday, May 20, 2012
Tuesday, March 06, 2012
"The euro is not in the interests of the Dutch people," said Geert Wilders, the leader of the right-wing populist party with a sixth of the seats in the Dutch parliament. "We want to be the master of our own house and our own country, so we say yes to the guilder. Bring it on."
Mr Wilders made his decision after receiving a report by London-based Lombard Street Research concluding that the Netherlands is badly handicapped by euro membership, and that it could cost EMU’s creditor core more than €2.4 trillion to hold monetary union together over the next four years. "If the politicians in The Hague disagree with our report, let them show the guts to hold a referendum. Let the Dutch people decide," he said.
Mr Wilders is not part of the coalition. However, the minority government of Mark Rutte relies on the Freedom Party to pass legislation. The two men were in talks on Monday on €16bn of fresh austerity cuts needed stop the budget deficit jumping to 4.5pc of GDP. » | Ambrose Evans-Pritchard | Monday, March 05, 2012
My comment:
This is a funny thing! This paper has never missed an opportunity to vilify Geert Wilders when he has spoken out politically incorrectly about Islam, but now that he speaks about a subject – the demise of the euro – close to this newspaper's heart, he is touted as a hero. Well, well! Fancy that! – © Mark
This comment also appears here.
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Scotland may be forced to join the Euro as the price of independence from the United Kingdom, Downing Street warned today.
A spokesman for David Cameron said there were no guarantees that the Scots could keep sterling if they voted against remaining affiliated with the rest of the union.
Mr Cameron’s spokesman said: “Once you start asking the question about independence, one part of that is what currency to have. Would Scotland retain the pound, and if so, how does that work? Or does it join the euro? That’s one part of the independence question.”
Other issues which Downing Street said would need ironing out are shared defence capabilities, the national debt and border security.
A carve up of assets between England and Scotland could leave both countries facing years of legal wrangling. » | James Kirkup, and Simon Johnson | Wednesday, January 11, 2012
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Friday, December 09, 2011
THE GUARDIAN: French accused of setting Britain up as 'fall guy' in attempt to ringfence eurozone
David Cameron was at the centre of a furious row with Nicolas Sarkozy on Thursday after Paris tried to isolate the prime minister at the EU summit by suggesting that Britain is seeking to exempt the City of London from all European regulations.
In a move dismissed by officials in Brussels as an attempt to set Britain up as the "fall guy", senior French figures said Cameron wanted an "opt out" from EU financial services regulation.
The French were said to have found themselves isolated in their attempts to limit an agreement on tough fiscal rules for the single currency just to the eurozone's 17 members.
Britain said Sarkozy was distorting the British position, which is to ensure that changes to the eurozone do not harm the City of London.
Cameron confronted Sarkozy in a joint meeting with Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, shortly before the EU's 27 leaders met for dinner to try to hammer out an agreement to underpin new fiscal integration in the eurozone.
"The prime minister was very determined and very strong in the meeting," one British source claimed. "This is going to be a very difficult discussion."
The joint meeting with Sarkozy and Merkel set the scene for a tense night of negotiations as EU leaders embarked on a mammoth effort to prevent the collapse of the single currency at what was seen as the most important Brussels summit in years. » | Nicholas Watt, Ian Traynor and David Gow in Brussels | Thursday, December 08, 2011
Saturday, December 03, 2011
To use that British understatement that Continentals enjoy, one might suggest that it has not been a good year for the euro. And now, some say, only about a week remains to put things right. So who better to question than the man who invented it? In Paris on Wednesday, I called on Jacques Delors.
Mr Delors, who was President of the European Commission from 1985 to 1995, is the only foreign bureaucrat ever to have become a household name in Britain. In 1988, he enraged Margaret Thatcher by coming to address the British TUC on the joys of the European “social dimension”. Her famous Bruges speech later that month was her attempt to stand against the tide of European integration that he represented.
It was Mr Delors whose report produced the plan for what we now call the euro. He was such a demon figure for British eurosceptics that The Sun produced the headline “UP YOURS, DELORS” and invited its readers to turn, face the English Channel and make a rude gesture at him in unison.
I climb several twists of typical steep Parisian stairs to a modest office. The small, bespectacled figure who greets me is old in years — he was born in July 1925, three months before Mrs Thatcher — but with undiminished physical and mental vigour. We talk for two hours, and one feels he would happily continue for another two.
Mr Delors is known for his austerity, but the man I converse with is not stiff or pompous. He remembers his old adversary with a slightly amused respect, noting her immense capacity for work and her vision in looking for change in the Soviet Union before others did.
He reflects on their difference of background and character: “I think for Mme Thatcher I was a curious personage: a Frenchman, a Catholic, an intellectual, a socialist.” Continue reading and comment » | Charles Moore | Friday, December 02, 2011
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Friday, December 02, 2011
Saturday, November 26, 2011
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: British embassies in the eurozone have been told to draw up plans to help British expats through the collapse of the single currency, amid new fears for Italy and Spain.
As the Italian government struggled to borrow and Spain considered seeking an international bail-out, British ministers privately warned that the break-up of the euro, once almost unthinkable, is now increasingly plausible.
Diplomats are preparing to help Britons abroad through a banking collapse and even riots arising from the debt crisis.
The Treasury confirmed earlier this month that contingency planning for a collapse is now under way.
A senior minister has now revealed the extent of the Government’s concern, saying that Britain is now planning on the basis that a euro collapse is now just a matter of time.
“It’s in our interests that they keep playing for time because that gives us more time to prepare,” the minister told the Daily Telegraph.
Recent Foreign and Commonwealth Office instructions to embassies and consulates request contingency planning for extreme scenarios including rioting and social unrest. » | James Kirkup, Deputy Political Editor | Friday, November 25, 2011
THE GUARDIAN: Eurozone looks to International Monetary Fund as contagion spreads: • Italian and Spanish bond yields reach new highs • Belgium downgraded by S&P credit-rating agency » | David Gow in Brussels and Giles Tremlett in Madrid | Friday, November 25, 2011
Sunday, November 20, 2011
The former deputy prime minister, a long-time supporter of the single currency, said the public had "no idea" about the potential impact its collapse would have on the UK.
But he believes Franco-German determination will secure the euro's future and pave the way for Britain to sign up.
Both the Coalition and the Labour Party have ruled out adopting the euro in the foreseeable future.
Last month Prime Minister David Cameron suffered the biggest ever Conservative revolt over Europe as more than 80 Conservative MPs defied his orders and backed a referendum on Britain’s membership of the European Union.
Lord Heseltine, the peer in charge of the Government's £1.4 billion regional growth fund, acknowledged that the Eurozone was in crisis, but said he was confident they would pull through to create a stronger economy.
He told BBC1's Politics Show: "I think we will join the euro. » | Josie Ensor | Sunday, November 20, 2011
BBC: UK will ultimately join euro says Lord Heseltine: Former deputy prime minister Lord Heseltine has said he still expects the UK to eventually join the euro. » | Sunday, November 20, 2011
Saturday, November 19, 2011
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Britain will have to abandon the pound and join the single currency “faster than people think”, Germany’s finance minister has said.
Wolfgang Schäuble said that, despite the current crisis in the eurozone, the euro will ultimately emerge as the common currency of the entire European Union. He said he “respects” Britain’s decision to keep the pound, but insisted that the survival and eventual stabilisation of the euro will convince non-members to join the currency club. “This may happen more quickly than some people in the British Isles currently believe,” he added.
Mr Schäuble also said Germany will stand firm on its call for a financial transaction tax that Britain believes would badly harm the City of London. » | Bruno Waterfield, in Brussels and Christopher Hope in Berlin | Friday, November 18, 2011
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An anti-British backlash gathered pace in Germany yesterday as David Cameron and Angela Merkel struggled to disguise the gulf between them on how to tackle the eurozone crisis.
The Prime Minister returned from talks in Berlin with the German leader having made little progress in agreeing emergency action to stop the financial contagion spreading.
Tensions were inflamed after a close ally of Ms Merkel predicted Britain would eventually adopt the euro.
The German media joined the clamour, with the mass-circulation newspaper Bild questioning whether it might be better for Britain to leave the European Union altogether.
Behind the leaders' smiles at a joint press conference yesterday, they acknowledged fundamental differences remained on three key issues: » | Nigel Morris and Tony Paterson | Saturday, November 20, 2011
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Saturday, November 12, 2011
Die rechtspopulistische niederländische Freiheitspartei (PVV) will einen Ausstieg des Landes aus dem Euro untersuchen lassen.
„Die Regierung macht uns Angst, indem sie uns sagt, das Licht werde im Fall eines Austritts aus dem Euro erlöschen. Natürlich kostet das Geld, aber ich will wissen, ob eine Rückkehr zum Gulden uns am Ende nicht mehr bringt“, sagte der PVV-Chef Geert Wilders der Zeitung „Telegraaf“.
Sollte die Studie „einer großen internationalen Firma“ belegen, dass eine Rückkehr zum Gulden von Vorteil sei, werde die PVV eine Volksabstimmung dazu beantragen. » | AFP/sara | Freitag 11. November 2011
DUTCHNEWS.nl: PVV investigates return of guilder, may call for referendum: The anti-Islam PVV is paying a 'renowned international bureau' to investigate whether bringing back the guilder would benefit the Dutch economy. ¶ If the report is positive, the party will press for a referendum on leaving the euro, party leader Geert Wilders says in Friday's Telegraaf. ¶ 'The cabinet is frightening us by telling us the lights will go out if we leave the euro. Of course it will cost money, but I want to know if going back to the guilder will deliver more in the long term,' Wilders told the paper. » | © DutchNews.nl | Friday, November 11, 2011
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