"It is perfectly clear that the euro has been a great success in anchoring its eurozone members during this financial crisis.
Imagine where all of us would have been if it hadn't. I hope people will recognise that this represents a major vindication for the single currency.
Does it remain an important objective for Britain to find itself in the same currency as that single market in which it interacts? Obviously yes."
Lord Mandelson, speaking in Berlin, June 10, 2009
On a related topic, whatever happened to Brown's five tests for UK entry into the eurozone?
9 comments:
That is for sure. SCARY IF HE DOESN'T UNDERSTAND ECONOMICS.
Of course Mandleson and come to that the Kinnock dynasty are still in the pay of the European Union.
Still schilling for their paymasters.
30% turnout at the recent EU elections
70% of the 30% vote in protest against the EU.
A clear message to our leaders.
Mandleson presses on in support of the EU juggernaut ignoring the will of the people.
The message could also be interpreted another way: (a) 30 million of the electorate are not anti-EU because they could be bothered to vote (a 10-minute or so exercise; contrast this with the effort of 400,000 people who travelled to London to protest against the hunting ban & a million who marched against the Iraq war); and (b) of the 15 million who did bother to vote only about a quarter of them chose parties (UKIP, BNP et al) campaigning for the UK to withdraw from the EU.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/bsp/hi/elections/euro/09/html/ukregion_999999.stm
"... whatever happened to Brown's five tests for UK entry into the eurozone?"
In the 23 September 2008 entry of his blog, Professor Buiter suggested we should "declare them passed".
http://blogs.ft.com/maverecon/2008/09/the-city-of-london-can-no-longer-afford-the-expensive-luxury-of-sterling/
I think he's saying "considering where our currency is heading, please can we join your club now!"
I look forward to when we leave the EU as it will finally be the end of the UK. N.Ireland, Scotland and Wales will become full EU members, while England will burn in its xenophobic isolation.
Wow, as much as I dislike Mr Mandelson, kudos to him for telling the truth in this case, however unpopular it may be. Nothing can be gained by statements like this, yet he still made it. That's quite extraordinary and noteworthy in my opinion.
Sadly, the currency issue is way too politicised. It is impossible to rationally talk about this in the UK, and I just don't see the Euro happening here without a major Sterling crisis (or the union splitting up), simply for political reasons.
Of course both sides will continue to pretend that 'economics' is on their side, but this is true much less now than it was 10 years ago: the major problem has always been the business cycle, and business cycles were diverging 10 years ago, but are almost in sync now. The rest is politics for the most part.
The current Conservative Party line is that a Tory government would never join the euro. It seems extraordinary that there is so little serious discussion about the pros and cons; generally when the topic does arise in tv interviews a politician is just asked whether he is for or against.
I agree with Tim's analysis, though. Wouldn't it be funny if it was William 'Save the Pound' Hague who ended being charged with the negotiations.
Here are some discussion papers favouring the case for the UK joining the euro.
http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/pressAndInformationOffice/PDF/10yearsoftheEuro.pdf
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