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