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The Changing Face of the EU - Part 2

Let me carry on from where I left off in my previous article on life after the referendum in the UK.

Let’s talk money again. Ever heard of something called sterling? With life inside the EU that’s one thing that will have to be consigned to the history books. As usual with politics, everybody talks a load of rubbish, but mainly the points made are the trivial ones. One load of over-paid idiots tell us that if the UK leaves the EU economic growth will fall by 2.7%. It’s always interesting that it isn’t 2.8% or 2.6%. I wonder why. These people would have us believe they know the future. What a bunch of jerks. Hold on. Surely it’s those people who actually believe all this rubbish who are the real idiots. My thoughts when someone comes out with this rubbish is: Never mind what the economy will do in 2020, tell me what’s going to win the 2.30 at Kempton Park if you can read the future.

As an aside to this sort of thing, have you noticed the track record of these guys? It’s 100% wrong. But let’s not get side-tracked here, although it is easy to do so. Let’s concentrate on the obvious, which no-one else seems to be doing.

Let’s go back to basics. What’s the EU all about? Political and economic union. It’s in the charter. There is no way round those two cornerstones. You can’t alter the basis of the club, it’s in the rules.

Political union means precisely that. It means every state within the union will be subservient to a central ruling class. It therefore means the end of democracy in Europe, and the end of individual state-hood. It means the people will be subservient to the state. That is fascism. That is what the second world war was fought over. In 1945 the Brits celebrated the defeat of fascism, but now, I am appalled to say this, maybe in 100 years time no-one will actually believe it, but now we are about to vote over whether to accept fascism as the political norm. Not only that, but a brand of fascism run by the same country that tried it on last time round. However, this time, they have learned from history.

We will be told to vote Yes. And if we vote No, we will be told to vote again until we get it “right”. The French were told to vote Yes to the Lisbon treaty. They voted No. That’s no good. They were told to vote again, and keep voting until they voted Yes. The same happened in Ireland. Under EU rules you do what Brussels says, and that’s an end to it. Democracy? Forget it; in the EU democracy is dead. That’s what political union means. It means everyone agreeing. There is no room for dissent.

I have no views either way on the matter, but it does help to know what the question is. I happen to think that fascism is a great system so long as the head is rational and benign. It is a frightful system under any other circumstances. The really big snag is that an efficient machine is easy to take over. That does worry me.

While we are on the subject, do remember that Turkey is the next member of the union. If you think otherwise you are sleepwalking. You dont do military deals with a country that is not on the “most favoured” list. You dont give billions of euros to a country that is not a trusted companion. Follow the political deals and follow the money. Turkey is in.

I do have views on that. How nice to be friends with Turkish folk. Hold on, aren’t we already friends? Do we need to be friendlier? The real question is, not wether we can or ought to be friends, but can we get on under the same roof. I was always brought up to believe in that fault line that runs across Europe and means that those south of that line can be great friends with those north of the line, but can we all live under the same roof in the same way, with the same ideals, and the same preconceptions, without getting up each other’s noses? I very much doubt it.

I also dont have much faith in any political unions. Heck, the UK is even called a political union, but ask the Welsh what they really think of the deal. The Scots have only recently had their own referendum on the subject of being in or out of a union. It was a close call. Roughly half our neighbours want out. What chance for a larger union? Close to zero I would say.

Let’s have a look at the question of economic union. The basis of such a union is the free movement of people and goods across the area. Forget trying to stop people from coming to Britain, that’s part of the rules of the game. Any relaxation in the rules will only be for the benefit of the referendum itself. With that safely out of the way the juggernaut will get back into gear. Read the preamble to the EU treaty. It’s there in black and white. Anyone throughout the Union can move live and work anywhere else in the Union. That’s fundamental. It won’t change.

The other part of an economic union concerns the means to forge such a union. That means money. That means the euro. It does not mean competing currencies. It does not include the British Pound. That will have to go. It may take ten years to phase it out. It may take fifty, who knows, but with Britain inside the Union that competing currency will have to go. The euro will cross the channel, and the Pound will be buried.

That will mean the British economy, and everything that stands for, will be run from Frankfurt and Brussels. Have you noticed that the first moves are already afoot. I’m sure you will have read that the stock markets in London and Frankfurt are seeking a union. First a link-up, with each market still a separate entity, but gradually the Frankfurt market will take over all the other bourses in the EU, and companies will be coerced into filing for membership of the flagship bourse, the Dax. Companies will probably still be listed in Paris, Madrid and London, but they will be shadow markets.

That may also be a good thing, but a good thing for the EU, and an extremely bad thing for the UK. London is currently a major international financial market place. With the main European stock market in Frankfurt that will be the end of the city of London as a financial centre. You may hate bankers and insurance companies and the like, but they earn a rather large chunk of money for the country. Finance is one of Britain’s largest export markets. With that gone, London will start to fade, and Britain will continue to fade, and … Actually, continuing that line of argument is a bit too depressing, so permit me to leave the sentence unfinished.

I think you will find that over a period of time that may stretch from a decade to even fifty years the UK will gradually be upstaged by Germany and Brussels, and the country will start to become ever poorer, and more peripheral in the world. By the end of this century maybe the UK will on a level with Italy or Portugal. Our only hope of survival will be if the EU collapses before London’s financial markets are decimated, otherwise the country will lose both ways. I have to admit to being very pessimistic about the whole business.

Oh yes, one other small matter that appears to assume the above scenario is already in train is the result of the Shanghai Accord. This was all about the Chinese currency, which has a lower percentage content in the International currency basket than sterling, yet the manipulations were all about the yuan, and no-one even bothered to mention sterling. Those who control world currencies are already assuming sterling is merely a shadow currency. If the EU survives, sterling is finished.

Interesting isn’t it? If the source of your wealth comes from the UK you may well have a future problem. If your wealth is denominated in euros you may well have a problem. If it’s from both sources you may well have two problems. Fun isn’t it? I hope you are managing to stay ahead of the game. I long ago started diversifying outside of Europe.

Oh yes, and one more small matter. A few weeks back I was goaded into writing something to support poor beleaguered England. I am rather uncomfortable writing patriotic stuff. Maybe that’s because I am a bit of a mongrel myself (I am only 25% English, and, curiously, I am also 25% German), or it may be that the English simply aren’t very good at standing up for England. Being Shakespeare’s big anniversary year I was asked to write something along patriotic Shakespearian lines. I have done so, and set it up as a YouTube video. Here’s the link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1EDMAQHAFs
Do drop by and give it a whirl.

john

Part Three of the Series >>>
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