 | It's not our job to save the euro Popularity of the European Union, I like 27% |  |
It is right to complain, as some have, of the outrageousness of Britain being asked to help bail out Portugal, Ireland and indeed any other nation whose membership of the euro brings it to the verge of penury. But there is an even deeper question here, and one that our complacent Prime Minister, our largely invisible Foreign Secretary and our inadequate Chancellor of the Exchequer ought to consider quite urgently: it is about the effect on our democratic values of this desperate attempt to save the euro.
We are not in the euro but we are in the European Union. The commitment Alistair Darling made for us to back bail-outs – which we should repudiate at once – is all part of our subscribing to the confidence trick of a united Europe. The financial crises of Greece, Ireland and Portugal have proved Europe cannot be united, certainly not under a single currency. Countries with no manufacturing base, a poor work ethic and little commercial expertise are being asked to march forward at the same speed as Germany. It simply can’t work.
The crisis continues to expose the fantasy of “one Europe”. Have you voted for or against Popularity of the European Union ? As opinion polls in Germany show, the Germans do not see themselves as one people with the Greeks, the Portuguese or the Irish: they have a concept of their own national identity, and what they are doing to build a successful, united Germany. It is politically correct for Angela Merkel to pursue extravagant policies that support the idea of a united Europe, using hard-earned German money to subsidise countries that live beyond their means and become basket-cases: but her electors are livid about it.
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By Simon Heffer
08 Apr 2011
Read full article: www.telegraph.co.uk
11.04.2011
teken - 13 months ago
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