Friday, June 12, 2015

The ERM  (European Exchange Mechanism) should have exposed the intent to all. This was and still is with the Euro, the French attempt to protect their economy from competition and the German attempt to export their economy and world view to everyone (but the French, at least for now. One assumes each believes it will win and impose its view on the other. The idea of the ECB was for the French to obtain indirect control over the bundesbank). When Britain left the ERM on white Wednesday it  quickly recovered and became again competitive which drew howls from the French and Germans of "unfair" competition. The same criticism leveled at other nations as they too fell out of the ERM and recovered. The point being that the regulatory framework was intended to prevent nation states using economic instruments to address inflation, unemployment competition etc, if it was to the detriment of France. In their turn the Spanish Italians Danes Swedes and Irish all fell foul of the cosy arrangement between France and Germany and the sweetheart deals that saw Germany act to protect the French economy every time it was in danger but left the rest go hang. Nothing has changed. This may be presented as an "all for one, one for all" community where the good of the EU is paramount over the good of the nation states and it clearly does require that the nation states put the good of the community above the good of the nation state. Except that for all the fine words and aspirational clap-trap it has never ever been that. Nor will it ever be....One of the aim of the Euro was to build an area of fair competitiveness, in areas where currency wars of the 70/80s and race to the bottom was the rule.  Saying that the British economy "became again competitive" when Britain left the ERM is a bit much: it was not a miracle but a mirage.  Problem with the ERM was that the British government was a strong advocate of a strong currency; they entered the ERM with a much too strong Pound; the British economy could stand the pace ...Mr Cameron has pledged to campaign to remain in the EU if he is able to get significant reforms from Brussels over the coming months. Speaking in the Commons, Mr Cameron hinted that he would expect his ministers to vote with the Government in the referendum. A number of eurosceptic ministers have privately indicated that they would like to be able to campaign for Britain to leave the EU.

 

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