Should the UK Join the Euro?

Thinking about it more deeply this evening, in the years to come more and more places, which attract tourists, will take euros as well as british pounds.

It is already possible to pay for lots of things in London, and aircraft, ferries etc.. with euros, my bet is over the next ten years, you will be able to pay for petrol, museum entry, in large supermarkets, in pubs etc.. in euro coins and notes if you want.

But as long as people are still paid their wages or salaries in pounds we will still technically be out of the euro zone!

M&S already does and has done for years (or did?)

It's the education of kids that is worrying though. There really is a pro-euro bias, both monetary and in general through education that is churning out brainwashed students against what the reality of the situation is.

No doubt aided by the generous EU payments made to schools to promote such things.

Watching a programme on the Beeb yesterday at 7:30 about euroland confirms the battle on proven correct by economic fact anti-EU British hands.

It tried to be inpartial, to be fair, but only in stupid ways - like dressing the presenter in EU regalia in Brussels and looking like a fool but their intended bias soon reigned supreme. When over a Dutch Mosque, there was a heavy metal band who sang racist songs.... by asking them to say which way they voted in the referendum their bias shone through.

Of course Im being serious, and just so you know how serious I am, here is a picture of one of my students after lesson has ended

As George Galloway said (almost) to Saddam Hussein, " Spyro, you are indefatigable"....... you're great and I love your posts..........I am falling apart at your reply............. :hihi: :hihi:

Thinking about it more deeply this evening, in the years to come more and more places, which attract tourists, will take euros as well as british pounds.

It is already possible to pay for lots of things in London, and aircraft, ferries etc.. with euros, my bet is over the next ten years, you will be able to pay for petrol, museum entry, in large supermarkets, in pubs etc.. in euro coins and notes if you want.

But as long as people are still paid their wages or salaries in pounds we will still technically be out of the euro zone!

This is known as 'eurocreep'. Retailers can of course accept payment in any currency they choose and have always been able to do so. It is quite a common practice in tourist centres all over the world. For example, if you go to Toronto, you can pay for goods in US dollars, no problem.

However, this has nothing to do with entry into the euro zone, which requires a fundamental shift in monetary sovereignty from the UK to the EU. The Bank of England would lose its power to set our interest rates or to issue notes and coin. We would also be required to align our monetary policy fully with those of other eurozone states.

I have no problem at all with 'eurocreep'. Indeed, it enables us to have the best of both worlds - we can use the euro when travelling around the EU and foreigners may be able to use the euro here. But we retain control of our own currency - and overall are still doing a lot better than most eurozone economies, which remain in the doldrums.

M&S already does and has done for years (or did?)

 

It's the education of kids that is worrying though. There really is a pro-euro bias, both monetary and in general through education that is churning out brainwashed students against what the reality of the situation is.

Doncastrian, are you saying that a pro-european school is a bad thing?

Surely our culture over the last 1000 years is inextricibly linked to europe. We write using the roman alphabet, we use greek symbols in algebra, classical music has its hub in germany, the english language is mainly a mixture of latin germanic languages, Einstein was german.

Consider the following important names in science/medicine/mathematics Tesla, Hertz, Curie, Planck, Broglie, De vinci, Schrodinger..

what are they going to study at school if you are not pro european?

I am not a teacher so I don't know how you could claim that they teach Euro currency bias, but when I was at school we never did any lessons which included money.

Doncastrian, are you saying that a pro-european school is a bad thing?

 

Surely our culture over the last 1000 years is inextricibly linked to europe. We write using the roman alphabet, we use greek symbols in algebra, classical music has its hub in germany, the english language is mainly a mixture of latin germanic languages, Einstein was german.

Consider the following important names in science/medicine/mathematics Tesla, Hertz, Curie, Planck, Broglie, De vinci, Schrodinger..

what are they going to study at school if you are not pro european?

 

I am not a teacher so I don't know how you could claim that they teach Euro currency bias, but when I was at school we never did any lessons which included money.

No, i'm not saying that. You're mixing up european heritage with the EU - our european cousins, as have we, have brought wonders to the world which need to be taught.

There's nothing great about a european single currency nor an EU state of nations - which, at times, really does border on a 'EUSSR'.

The only thing the single currency has done is weaken major euro nations like Italy and Germany - France excluded as they choose to weaken themselves. There's nothing that it would have brought to Britain, proven by 6 years of fact - apart from no way of controling interest rates which would have crippled the economy.

No, i'm not saying that. You're mixing up european heritage with the EU - our european cousins, as have we, have brought wonders to the world which need to be taught.

 

There's nothing great about a european single currency nor an EU state of nations - which, at times, really does border on a 'EUSSR'.

 

The only thing the single currency has done is weaken major euro nations like Italy and Germany - France excluded as they choose to weaken themselves. There's nothing that it would have brought to Britain, proven by 6 years of fact - apart from no way of controling interest rates which would have crippled the economy.

Ok Doncastrian,

I think I understand you now,

While it is early days, it is interesting the changes which are happening to the cultures of other Eurozone countries. They are seeking to organise themselves better, to be more productive.

The country I know most about is Spain because I study it at college, and while their primary business is tourism, their atitudude to hard work has been changing over recent years. Famous for being lazy the spanish are changing their working hours to mirror ours, the siesta has almost dissappeared, and air conditioned offices have allowed them to keep to a 9 to 5 workday. The country since the 1970s has changed from almost a developing world country to a powerful player in world affairs, one of the 10th strongest economies in the world by some measures.

Germany after reunification is becoming stronger by the year and is likely to become one of the strongest european countries again, it is one of the largest and has always had a good record in business and finance because its people have always been well educated and all germans do 6 years of english language learning at school.

Poland it a country which everyone should have their eye on. It is a massive country which used to be the biggest country in europe. Expect them to play a big part in the next century in european affairs.

I know Italy has constant government problems and France is regularly on strike and gains greatly from the outdated european agricultural policy, as part of the old guard of the EU these two countries have got to take more responsibility and pull their socks up and as such are a threat to the hard working nations.

A question please. If a member of the Euro Zone decided to pull out what would happen to bank notes and coins bearing the members national emblem? Would a holder of this currency be compensated by the member or through the standard exchange procedure?

A question please. If a member of the Euro Zone decided to pull out what would happen to bank notes and coins bearing the members national emblem? Would a holder of this currency be compensated by the member or through the standard exchange procedure?

Firstly, there are no euro notes bearing the members national emblem. The coins of course do.

As for the issue of the implications of pulling out, there is no mechanism for this. The possibility is not even mentioned in any of the treaties. However, given the dissatisfaction with the performance of the euro in some European countries, the issue is being raised (if only semi-seriously, and with not much prospect of it actually happening).

What would be likely to happen is that the value of the new national currency in relation to the euro would be agreed between the national central bank and the ECB. A time period would then be set for the changeover, which would include a short period when both currencies would be in circulation at the same time. The euro notes and coin would be progressively withdrawn (i.e. exchanged for the new national currency) and the euro coins with the national symbols of the state in question would also be withdrawn. In other words, it would be basically the reverse of the process leading to the euro. No compensation was paid then and it is highly unlikely that any compensation would be paid in the new circumstances either.

The prospect of the euro's collapse is of course still mooted in some quarters. I don't think this is likely to happen for the forseeable future. But I don't see much prosepct of its performance improving much either, which is another reason why we should stay well clear of it.

Absolutely not. We're British - keep the pound.

There is no prospect of the UK joining the euro, certainly in the foreseeable future. The Tories have virtually ruled it out and they are likely to be in government after the next election. Moreover, the Lisbon Treaty debacle is likely to make Cameron even less willing to commit the UK to further EU entanglements. Additionally, a recent Eurobarometer survey conducted by the Commission found that only 26% of UK citizens were in favour of the euro.

A possible scenario for at least part of the UK adopting the euro is if a referendum were to be held on Scottish independence in 2010 or 2011. If the Scots Nats won the vote, I think one of the first things an independent Scotland would attempt to do would be to join the eurozone (but of course, this is all wild speculation at the moment).