Eurocash...

[KillerMuffin]

What's the general take on that? Belgium is sending out the first load of newly minted eurocash to where ever has accepted such a thing.

You know, that's one of the first things the United States did when we formed up from individual states into one nation, we did away with individiual state currencies and made them all US dollars. The reason was that local currency was no good outside of the state and it made interstate trading a pain in the ass.

I'm wondering what the general european civilian out there thinks of this currency. Is it actually supplanting the individual national currencies or is it supplementing it? Whose got the bank that backs up the currency? You know, who is in charge of the international treasury? Do you think this is a good idea or a bad idea? How do you stand on the unification of Europe? Thoughts? Discussions? Mindless gratuitous flirting because you don't really have an opinion and just want to make an appearance on all threads today? Mudflinging cause the threat of a EuroGOP stands in the future?

 

[April]

Mindless gratuitous flirting because you don't really have an opinion and just want to make an appearance on all threads today?

No comment, although I have lots of thoughts on that subject!

I'm not a European civilian, but I'll give my answer just the same. The Euro will be taking the place of the local currencies. So, no more Deutsch mark after a certain time. Can't remember the deadline, sorry. The U.K., Denmark, and a couple of other countries that I can't remember are not implementing the euro, but most of the remaing european countries will.

I'm trying to keep an open mind on this, as I have no idea how it will work out. I do know the the dollar will be floating on the currency exchanges against the euro. Right now the dollar buys about 1.09 euros, which is not bad, but it's down quite a bit from last year. We'll just have to see how it works out.

 

[OUTSIDER]

To the mind of the average man in the street one currency equals one nation and if you throw in the Euro parliment as well it's easy to see how most people think we're slowly being pulled into a United States of Europe.

And I'm aginnit.

 

[Myrrdin]

I don't care whether the coins in my pocket are Pounds , Euro's or Korean Dongs.
But I do care who controls the currency, interest rates, inflation targets etc. And thats what the states moving to the Euro have surrendered. The ability to control their own monetary policy. Their financial independence has been handed over to the Eurocrats who have made such a great success of eveything they've handled so far[/sarcasm]

Since most personal financial transactions are done by plastic now. It won't be that difficult to run too currencies side by side

 

[p_p_man]

The EuroBank is controlling...

the running of the new currency and will eventually begin controlling the European economy. It's staffed by banking people from all the European member states not by Eurocrats.

At the moment the UK is not included in the new currency but we will be holding a referendum to see whether we want to join or not.

This issue over the single currency heavily defeated the Conservatives at our recent General Election. They thought they were onto a winner when they began saying NO to the Euro, but by the time they realised the people weren't really that bothered it was too late for them to backtrack. Their present leadership contest is between one man who is pro and the other who is anti.

The new notes have just been released and are criticised for being too "boring". They're designed not to offend anyone.

As OUTSIDER says Europe will slowly become one nation but it's not going to happen tomorrow. But it will happen.

Not only the single currency but already in place or in the pipeline are::

Rapid Defence Force (the Euro Army) designed to replace NATO

Joint diplomatic policies, at the moment only in certain areas, but eventually to cover all matters.

Political decisions to be made by a European Parliament. This already happens to some extent. All member states have Euro-elections where they elect their Euro Members of Parliament MEPs) to represent them in the European Parliament.

The one currency.

The ability to work and live in any member state and to draw on that state's social security benefits.

The ability to be educated anywhere within the European Union.

Urestricted travel between member states.

Free and unrestricted trade between member sates.

The expansion of Interpol's European division into a single European police force. We're seeing evidence of that now with closer and closer co-operation between national police forces.

Unified Transport System (EuroStar at the moment but more to follow)

and lots lots more. The changes don't just suddenly appear they are the reult of years and years of negotiation.

At the moment all the general public are hearing about the single curreny is from the politicians who tend to bring up the subject of each nation losing its national identity, the right to control it's own economy and even (in the UK's case anyway, that the Queens head will no longer appear on our notes and coins - sheesh!).

Once the currency becomes fully in use then the public will be able to see the advantages to them personally.

To name just two, there will no longer be lengthy conversion rates to work through and with different rates of exchange no longer being a factor the different prices for the same article in different countries can be seen at a glance. Enabling people, if they want, to buy from that particular country.

Holidays will no longer be plagued by having to calculate exchange rates for spending money.

Some time back a few newspapers in the UK carried out their own experiment where they traveled around Europe converting their currency as they went. At the end of the trip a massive £40 had been from each £100 to pay for bank charges and adminstrative fees at each currency exchange.

That sort of thing will become a thing of the past.

The French get into Euro Disney for £10-£20 cheaper than someone from the UK because the Disney Corporation charges an administration fee for non-Euro paying customers. (It's because the Corporation's business is carried out in Euros only).

Once the political rhetoric goes away and people can see how it affects them personally then I think we'll see a change in favour of the single currency.

I've been pro-European since my early 20s thinking then, as I do now, that it is the only way forward for us to go. In those days I was a bit of lone voice but now, I'm pleased to see, more people are giving it more thought.

Just one more thing. It has occurred to me that our national politicians will be either out of a job or relegated to the status of a town council when Europe becomes fully integrated. Maybe that's why some of them are so vehemently opposed to it!!

 

[registered "^^"]

Don't worry the U.S.A. will still lend ya the greenbacks.......

 

[p_p_man]

Well actually I'm a bit strapped for cash right now...

If you can see your way to send over a coupla thousand, you'll get it back on Thursday...

Promise...

 

[Darowyn]

"Roll on the World single currency" I say. If it's a good idea for Europe, and it surely is, then it must be a good idea for the world.
I don't even mind if they call it the Dollar, as long as theydon't make the silly mistake of having all the notes, of whatever denomination, the same size and colour.
Have you ever realised how much time you waste having to look at every note to see what it's worth?

 

[Closet Desire]

Seriously...

...the US hasn't actually got any greenbacks to lend.

I think the UK will swing over and join the Euro now that the reality of lost jobs is becoming apparent. Most Japanese car makers have started paying in Euros and countries that do not accept that will lose their plants. Estimate expressed on the BBC yesterday is that not accepting the Euro is costing 1,500 jobs a month in the UK.

Hmmm...lemme think about this.

 

[Myrrdin]

Re: The EuroBank is controlling...

Originally posted by p_p_man
the running of the new currency and will eventually begin controlling the European economy. It's staffed by banking people from all the European member states not by Eurocrats.
But who will these bankers be responsible to? How politicised will their jobs become?



At the moment the UK is not included in the new currency but we will be holding a referendum to see whether we want to join or not.
Governments have been talking about a referendum for approx ten years. But are too uncertain of the result to actually call one. Eire and Denmark have already voted against further EU integration.

This issue over the single currency heavily defeated the Conservatives at our recent General Election. They thought they were onto a winner when they began saying NO to the Euro, but by the time they realised the people weren't really that bothered it was too late for them to backtrack. Their present leadership contest is between one man who is pro and the other who is anti.
The no vote was the only thing the conservative voters were united about. Their divisions on everything else defeated them.

.

As OUTSIDER says Europe will slowly become one nation but it's not going to happen tomorrow. But it will happen.
agreed


Rapid Defence Force (the Euro Army) designed to replace NATO
Shambolic. On the current Macedonia mission. Britain has supplied the majority of the troops and finance.


Political decisions to be made by a European Parliament. This already happens to some extent. All member states have Euro-elections where they elect their Euro Members of Parliament MEPs) to represent them in the European Parliament.
With all due respect Bollocks. Elected Euro MP's have no decision making powers . Member state governments appoint commissioners to the other branch of the legislature. The ministerial offices (budgets) are shared between these non elected Eurocrats. These appointees decide policy.
This is where the EU should be concentrating on making itself more democratic before taking powers from properly elected people.


Holidays will no longer be plagued by having to calculate exchange rates for spending money.

It would be an utter disaster if the finacial security of a country was handed over to outsiders just becauuse people wanted cheaper holidays.


Just one more thing. It has occurred to me that our national politicians will be either out of a job or relegated to the status of a town council when Europe becomes fully integrated. Maybe that's why some of them are so vehemently opposed to it!!

You are in favour of less of democracy ???

 

[Myrrdin]

Taken from my favourite site of the moment.

http://www.pukka.net/snotsykims/glossary/

The European Union
Formerly known as the European Economic Community. Every year we give a load of wankers in Brussels about five billion pounds. They then give us back about three billion pounds and we have to put up signs all over the place saying "Funded by a grant from the EU"
On a small scale this is called a Ponzi fraud but on a big scale it's called progress.

 

[OUTSIDER]

As OUTSIDER says Europe will slowly become one nation but it's not going to happen tomorrow. But it will happen.


I also said I'm against it.


The idea that we will be ruled from Brussel's fills me with a kind of loathing that I can hardly find words to describe.

The torys lost the last election because people remember what a bunch of crooks they were and how little compassion they showed to the poor the last time they were in power, their anti european stance was the only thing most people agreed with.

And the idea of swapping a small "fairly" quick responding govt for a huge slow one seems like madness to me and many others too, our govt's sole aim is the welfare of the British people and in a euro govt I think we'll only be getting second best (if we're lucky).

 

[Guest]

I'm not a Euro, but -

The dollar will no longer be the world's reserve currency, and should lose considerable heft as a result. This will impact smugglers, money launderers, travelers, crisis cultures, secret agents, businesses, and even central bankers (who use the dollar to support or repress the values of local currencies in the market). The Mark was an important reserve, but the Euro's size should significantly reduce demand for the dollar, which is one of the things that saved the US during the massive deficits and monstr blanace-of-payments (imports over exports) gaps of the Reagan years. The US will probably have to face more music during sloppy times, in other words.

More immediate is the problem that, in this ever-softening global economic environment, the Euro-bankers are too bound up with fighting inflation to stimulate their economies much. Monetarist philosophies overwhelmed the Keynesian approach in the late 70s and early 80s, so Europe's central bankers are bent on proving that they're "responsible."

Europe is thus mostly oriented toward discipline, and not toward the old "liberal' fix of printing money (as the US virtually did with the tax cuts and rebates) as a means of priming a slowing economy. Under single currencies, Euro policy makers of old would have been lowering their interest rates and spending lots of money on state-funded projects to boost consumer and business spending. With Japan's economy in a never-ending flush mode, that leaves it mostly up to the US to spark a world recovery. And Greenspan's monetarist, rate-lowering fixes don't yet seem to be working (many think because the prospect of the tax cuts over the next nine years is keeping long-term interest rates high, so the short-term boost isn't happening).

Sorry this is so dull, but it sure is important.

 

[Todd]

Eurocash one step closer in fulfilling my promises

 

[p_p_man]

Re: Re: The EuroBank is controlling...

Originally posted by p_p_man


Political decisions to be made by a European Parliament. This already happens to some extent. All member states have Euro-elections where they elect their Euro Members of Parliament MEPs) to represent them in the European Parliament.

With all due respect Bollocks. Elected Euro MP's have no decision making powers . Member state governments appoint commissioners to the other branch of the legislature. The ministerial offices (budgets) are shared between these non elected Eurocrats. These appointees decide policy.
This is where the EU should be concentrating on making itself more democratic before taking powers from properly elected people.

It's better if I reply to Myrrdin's comments with the old hated "cut and paste" method. This is copied from one of the many official EU web sites scattered around the net. It explains the powers of the European Parliament far better than I can.


"CODECISION Legislative procedure introduced by the Maastricht Treaty and extended to new areas by the Treaty of Amsterdam, which puts the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers on an equal footing in the adoption of Community legislation.


Legislative power

The normal legislative procedure is codecision (see above). It puts the European Parliament and the Council on an equal footing and leads to the adoption of joint Council and European Parliament acts. Through the codecision procedure, many more Parliament amendments find their way into Community laws and no text can now be adopted without the formal agreement of the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union.

Codecision is now one of Parliament's most important powers. The codecision procedure applies to the free movement of workers, creation of the internal market, research and technological development, the environment, consumer protection, education, culture and health. It was used, for example, when the European Parliament adopted the 'television without frontiers' directive prohibiting sporting events from being broadcast only in encrypted form. This procedure also allowed Parliament to secure much stricter rules on fuel quality and motor oil from the year 2000, as a means of making drastic cuts in atmospheric pollution.

Although codecision is the standard procedure, there are important areas, such as tax matters or the annual farm price review, in which Parliament simply gives an opinion."

As I said in my post some political decisions by the European Parliament take place at present. As the process of unification moves forward the EU Parliament will take on more and more legislative responsibility, probably in the procedural parameters of codecision at first, but eventually as a unilateral body.

First let's get the Euro sorted out.

If anyone wants to view the site from which I copied the above information here is the link:

http://www.europarl.eu.int/presentation/default_en.htm

 

[pabloback]

denmark had a referendum and the country voted against the euro
if this country has referendum it will vote no, even though the politicians are all in favour of joining .
this countries last slump only ended when we crashed out the bottom of the e.r.m [exchange rate mechanism ,the forerunner of the euro]
on that day [known as black wednesday] the interest rates went from 7% to 15% and back down in a number of hours.

 

[p_p_man]

denmark had a referendum and the country voted against the euro

They and the Republic of Ireland probably didn't know about the cheaper entrance fee to EuroDisney!

if this country has referendum it will vote no,

Prove it!

even though the politicians are all in favour of joining .
this countries last slump only ended when we crashed out the bottom of the e.r.m [exchange rate mechanism ,the forerunner of the euro]
on that day [known as black wednesday] the interest rates went from 7% to 15% and back down in a number of hours.


DOING! WRONG!

The ERM wasn't the cause of Black Wednesday it was Sir Geoffrey Howe (the then Chancellor of the Exchequer) and the Conservative Party's dithering and indecision on whether to stay in or nor not when it was fairly obvious to most people, even as events were unfolding, that the UK had to come out or see interest rates rise. I can't remember the exact number of times the Conservative Government changed it's mind on that day but it was more than twice (AND each decision was announced to the public before it was put into practice) which gave ample opportunity for the money speculators to move in and make millions on sterling. Black Wednesday helped the defeat of the Tories in the 1997 General Election as it became known just how much they had cocked up the situation.

(Hmmm...so without Black Wednesday the Conservatives may still be in power!...Hmmm!)

 

[Myrrdin]

The European Exchange Rate Mechanism was a political attempt to tie currencies together and limit their fluctuation against one another. It didn't work . A huge ammount of The Bank Of England's reserves were spent propping the Pound up at an artificial high to try and keep the currency within the ERM. Financial speculators just sucked he worth out.
The Euro is no different, a political attempt to tie currencies without solving the problem of differences in member country economy strengths.
Once inside the Euro zone.
[cut-paste]
exchange rate adjustments would be impossible; national interest rate changes could no longer be made; and, there would be compulsory restrictions on national taxation and expenditure powers. Thus, the normal economic instruments available to government to use in regulating the economy and responding to external events would no longer exist. [/cut-paste]