Politics help: Well, should Britian join the euro? - Help.com

Well I was always against it but now it is getting stronger it possibly wouldn’t as baad a thing as it was, but I would miss good old sterling, I wouldn’t miss losing out one the exchange rate everytime I want to pop to Spain, or France for the weekend

we wouldn’t see the queen’s face everyday if we changed to the euro :( ha

well, I dunno. I am from australia, and as far as I know if Britain joins the EU all of it’s territories must also. Aside from the sheer mountain of paperwork, we would be obliged to help pay for things we can’t afford. But it would also open up great doors for us - we are obliged to purchase American Aircraft for our airforce, but if we join the EU we can technically buy Eurofighters.

But also, the UK isn’t actually on the European continent, so I don’t really know how that would work…

No, i like being individual and am quite happy using the sterling pound

We shouldn’t change to the euro because we will miss Darwins face on the £10 notes ;)

Yeah, but Europe is actually a subcontinent of asia. And did I mention that a country on the other side of the world will be taken into the EU if britain is? That doesn’t make sense lol, we are the Oceania continent, our own one ^^

dark_reveries wrote:
well, I dunno. I am from australia, and as far as I know if Britain joins the EU all of it’s territories must also. Aside from the sheer mountain of paperwork, we would be obliged to help pay for things we can’t afford. But it would also open up great doors for us - we are obliged to purchase American Aircraft for our airforce, but if we join the EU we can technically buy Eurofighters.

But also, the UK isn’t actually on the European continent, so I don’t really know how that would work…

dark_reveries wrote:
Yeah, but Europe is actually a subcontinent of asia. And did I mention that a country on the other side of the world will be taken into the EU if britain is? That doesn’t make sense lol, we are the Oceania continent, our own one ^^

hmmm… I guess so. good point. I hate the idea of the Dollar anyway. Euro sounds… cooler :P

So Dark reverie if that was the case could I come over to Australia without my working Visa because I would be all for that

Yeah, I was worried that in the Euro currency contract thingy that Australia, Canada and all the other Commonwealth territories would also have to. Sorry for not clarifying.
I think there may be some sort of visa agreement with britain, but I know you would still need the working visa sorry.
And I should research stuff before I open my mouth, i forgot that britain is a EU nation

I personally don’t believe it would be beneficial for Britain to join the Euro, currency unions have been attempted and failed the the past, we have no way to know that it will be a success. The needs of our domestic economy are not correlational with that of the European Central Bank, it is pursing a deflationary monetary policy for Europe which would not be good for us as a country. As we are now in a recession joining the Euro would mean that would cannot devalue our own currency in order to increase exports as we have done in the past and are doing now.

The general idea of the Euro is one that defines Europe as separate from the rest of the world, it is only for the advancement of European policy makers rather than the individual countries themselves, the bureaucracy is all that motivates it, rather than the individual needs of the country.

We cannot be assured that the Euro as a monetary union will be sustainable, we have already seen with Ireland (EIRE) that it was beneficiary for them to depart from Sterling and establish their own currency, this can only indicate that leaving the union of currency was beneficial rather than the joining of a currency.

I think that people put too much weight on the emotional aspect of leaving behind the pound and do not look deep enough into the economic factors, many countries are struggling because of the Euro and it in indicative that they will leave and re-establish their own currencies.

The Economic Monetary Union infact threatens our economy greatly from a financial standpoint, there is a state pensions crisis already happening in many continental countries as well as high rates of taxation, high public deficits and in some cases high debts, it does not take a genius to work out that the union of our currencies would put pressure on us via the EMU to bail out the countries in trouble.

To expand upon that point the joining of the Euro would enforce a European interest rate, countries whose debt increases would raise interest rates in all other countries, in short, if say Spain got into very serious debt, we would feel the backlash. EU countries would be responsible for increasing their intra-EU transfer payments in order to assist countries that have made bad economical decisions.

Aside from all of that, making the change from Sterling to the Euro would mean that business and banks would incur substantial costs, costs that would then be passed on to us, the consumers. Migration of capital will be very costly, and the EU has made no indication let alone commitment to relieving the cost of the migration.

lmao jess why did you even invite me? I agree with you 100% The euro is great for smaller countries and poorer ones because it offers a lot of stability but very little if no control over your countries financial growth, strength or independence.

of course we shouldn’t. i can’t beleive the government is even considering this. not once during the ‘recession’ did the pound drop below the euro and now that its climbing back up i really don’t see the point. Plus it would mean we have little influence over our money as germany/france/spain ect have large economies aswell… it would be a complete disaster if u ask me…

Joshy woshy Poshy wrote:
lmao jess why did you even invite me? I agree with you 100% The euro is great for smaller countries and poorer ones because it offers a lot of stability but very little if no control over your countries financial growth, strength or independence.

Because this is an important issue! I’m inviting all brits I know to come in on this difficult and touchy subject…

Miss Jessica Bunny wrote:
I personally don’t believe it would be beneficial for Britain to join the Euro, currency unions have been attempted and failed the the past, we have no way to know that it will be a success. The needs of our domestic economy are not correlational with that of the European Central Bank, it is pursing a deflationary monetary policy for Europe which would not be good for us as a country. As we are now in a recession joining the Euro would mean that would cannot devalue our own currency in order to increase exports as we have done in the past and are doing now.

The general idea of the Euro is one that defines Europe as separate from the rest of the world, it is only for the advancement of European policy makers rather than the individual countries themselves, the bureaucracy is all that motivates it, rather than the individual needs of the country.

We cannot be assured that the Euro as a monetary union will be sustainable, we have already seen with Ireland (EIRE) that it was beneficiary for them to depart from Sterling and establish their own currency, this can only indicate that leaving the union of currency was beneficial rather than the joining of a currency.

I think that people put too much weight on the emotional aspect of leaving behind the pound and do not look deep enough into the economic factors, many countries are struggling because of the Euro and it in indicative that they will leave and re-establish their own currencies.

The Economic Monetary Union infact threatens our economy greatly from a financial standpoint, there is a state pensions crisis already happening in many continental countries as well as high rates of taxation, high public deficits and in some cases high debts, it does not take a genius to work out that the union of our currencies would put pressure on us via the EMU to bail out the countries in trouble.

To expand upon that point the joining of the Euro would enforce a European interest rate, countries whose debt increases would raise interest rates in all other countries, in short, if say Spain got into very serious debt, we would feel the backlash. EU countries would be responsible for increasing their intra-EU transfer payments in order to assist countries that have made bad economical decisions.

Aside from all of that, making the change from Sterling to the Euro would mean that business and banks would incur substantial costs, costs that would then be passed on to us, the consumers. Migration of capital will be very costly, and the EU has made no indication let alone commitment to relieving the cost of the migration.

I also agree 100% completely

I’m sorry Double, I didn’t know you were a Brit! Apologies, I would have invited you if I knew :) And thank you :)

Miss Jessica Bunny wrote:
I’m sorry Double, I didn’t know you were a Brit! Apologies, I would have invited you if I knew :) And thank you :)

no worries, it’s ok =)

i find myself agreeing with Jess, and i’d like to expand on one bit in particular;

Miss Jessica Bunny wrote:
I think that people put too much weight on the emotional aspect of leaving behind the pound and do not look deep enough into the economic factors, many countries are struggling because of the Euro and it in indicative that they will leave and re-establish their own currencies.

i’m not an economics expert by any means so i can’t comment on that side of things, but what is interesting (and a bit of an in-joke amongst many europeans) is how insular and proud the british are. the joke that we are living in the past is majoritivly a truthful one; our polititians may not express it but the views of a lot of ‘ordinary’ people are still very anti-european. many brits have no concept of the european ‘union’, partly because we are an island i suppose, and britain really is very different from continental europe in so many ways. there are so many things that we get defensive about that many europeans wouldn’t even think of as being an issue, and in many ways we are an exceptionally backward-looking culture. i believe that joining the euro and all that goes with it may benefit us eventually, but it doesn’t right now, and more importantly unless our cultural attitudes fundamentally shift it never will because economics are only a portion (aleit quite a large one) of the debate.

Yes I agree with you there Ivy, we do have cultural attitudes that do not befit that of a conglomeration with Europe in a monetary sense. I think that because I am not that patriotic, I love the United Kingdoms in a sense that the scenery and landscape in some cases is beautiful, we have a wonderful history and it is most of this history that comes from the Monarchy that would suggest getting rid of the pound would be abandoning in a way our heritage as an island and our Monarchy. But, because I am not patriotic, I adore history but see little point bar tourism and links with other countries when it comes to the Monarchy of today, I do focus on the actualities of the economic backlashes that joining the Euro would bring. Because we are a small island we do need to ‘protect our own’ as it were, and I truly do not believe that joining the Euro would be beneficial to us.

Josh is right in that smaller, weaker countries will benefit from it, but I have spoken to so many, French, Spanish, Italian people and I have NEVER heard any of them speak about the Euro in a positive manner, I have a Belgian friend who rants about it constantly!

It is an important issue, and requires much debate.