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London Calling
Brother, Can You Spare a Euro?
The European Union is supposed to promote amity among its members. The result has been the opposite: hatred.
The blundering efforts of European leaders to save the ultra-profligate Greek economy may bring down the euro, sooner or later, by forcing the Germans, in their own self-interest, to pull out of the common currency and revert to the Deutschmark. If that happens the French will leave it too, resurrecting the franc. The rest of the mechanism will then simply disintegrate, and the European Central Bank will have no function, and will disappear.
Will this be a disaster? Why should it be? The rush to create the euro, a decade ago, was an ill-judged move. You cannot have a responsible common currency without a responsible common financial policy, and that means a common government. The European Union has not got one — it is a misnomer. The other EU states, and the Central Bank, had no control over the antics of the Greek government, which has pursued comic-opera policies for many years now: borrowing money to pay the inflated salaries and pensions of its vast, largely idle public sector and to leave a hefty residue for the politicians to steal by printing sovereign bonds on the security of the euro, which effectively means the German economy. Not for nothing do Greece’s friends and enemies alike refer to the country as a “kleptocracy,” which means “government by thieves.”
The Germans are full of rage at being forced to lend hundreds of billions of euros, which they have accumulated by hard work and providence, to lend to Greece, knowing that the money will never be returned and that there is no chance the Greek political ruling class will mend its ways. The Greeks are quite unrepentant. One of them said recently: “The Germans invaded us in 1941, without any excuse or provocation. They tortured and killed tens of thousands of Greeks. They wrecked our economy and carried off anything of value, from machinery to works of art. Many Greeks died of starvation in German prison camps. After the war, we never received one word of apology or one drachma of compensation. Now is a good time to take these barbarians for a ride.”
If Germans now hate Greeks, and Greeks hate Germans, that is but one symptom of the way national antipathies have been fed by ill-considered and premature attempts to bring about union. The EU is supposed to promote amity among the peoples who have been brought together in it. The result has been the opposite: hatred.
The French and the Germans now hate each other more than at any time since the Second World War ended 65 years ago. France’s boss, Nicolas Sarkozy, and the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, can scarcely endure being in the same room together. At the sight of her, Sarkozy begins to sweat, grow red in the face, and bang the table with clenched fist. She puts on her “Bismarck” face.
The Germans have recently turned on the Austrians, whom they now rate as only marginally less spendthrift than the Greeks. Germans, especially in the north, have always abused Austrians for being lazy, profligate, light-fingered, and frivolous. The Austrians in turn brand the Germans as overbearing, dictatorial, censorious, and mean — braggarts, bullies, and skinflints.
The Danes have hated the Germans since the Prussians, under Bismarck, stole Schleswig-Holstein from them. They have never forgotten the cool insolence with which Nazi armored columns launched a German war of aggression against them in 1940 and imposed a terrifying occupation, which lasted five long years. The Germans reply that the only thing the Danes are fit for is breeding pigs and that they need German Kultur. There are comparable fierce feelings of resentment along the German-Dutch border. And even among the smaller states there seems to be a rising tide of bitter resentment as each country feels the other gets more from the EU in the way of subsidies, capital infrastructure loans, cultural budgets, and bureaucratic jobs. The Dutch are particularly resentful that Brussels has three-quarters of the central EU structure and, as a result, has become a richer city than Amsterdam.
The Portuguese and the Spanish have never been exactly friendly, for Spain has invaded and occupied Portugal many times. But they jogged along together perfectly reasonably until the EU came along. Now there is tension, at a personal level, all along the border. During a recent visit I found, for instance, that Spanish police stop Portuguese tourist buses and subject them to detailed inspections which may last an entire day, hoping to find something wrong so that an on-the-spot fine can be exacted. In one case I know of, a five-hour search of the bus produced nothing until, in the end, the Spanish police claimed that the pressure in one of the tires was below the standard imposed by EU regulations, and insisted the driver hand over 1,000 euros in cash (more than $1,000). An American lady told me that, having just crossed the border into Spain from Portugal, she felt cold and unthinkingly ordered a glass of port, the national Portuguese drink, in a hotel. The waitress snarled, “Impossible,” and not only refused to bring the drink but threw down her wiping-cloth in a rage. Another U.S. lady involved herself in a scene by using the Portuguese term for “Thanks,” obligado, instead of the Spanish gracias.
At the same time I get many reports of Italians, who by nature are among the most courteous and friendly people on earth, being gratuitously beastly to other EU peoples, especially the French and the Germans. And the French, needless to say, have used the financial crisis to fortify their unrivaled reputation for lack of cooperation and rudeness.
Much of the troubles of the European Union are very deep-rooted. Nearly 60 years ago, when I was working in Paris, I recall Jean Monnet, the founder of the European movement, saying that it could never succeed unless it carried the peoples of Europe with it. That meant it had to be democratic, to move by consent, and that it had to employ the absolute minimum of bureaucrats and impose as few regulations as possible. All this wise advice has been totally ignored. The EU is one of the least democratic organizations on earth. It employs vast numbers of highly paid and arrogant bureaucrats, each of whom generates an opposite number at national level in each of the member states. As for EU regulations, they are now numbered by the million.
Jean Monnet, who knew the United States well and greatly admired Americans, said the EU should study the way in which the United States of America was created, the consultation with the peoples of the 13 states and the public debates, which ensured the union was successful, stable, and durable. This advice too has been ignored, the Brussels attitude being “We have nothing to learn from those beginners.”
Does the world have an interest in keeping the EU and the euro afloat? This has always been the assumption of the White House and, still more, the State Department. But I doubt its wisdom. The EU has singularly failed to act as a united force on the world stage, and as a military entity it is negligible. The world financial system has more to gain from a strong Deutschmark than from a weak euro. Financial scallywags like Greece and Spain are more likely to put their houses in order outside a common currency than within it. Sovereign governments ought to be held responsible for their financial mismanagement, rather than take refuge in a supranational currency at the expense of the prudent. The EU might dissolve itself, or reduce itself to a central core. The worst solution of all is to stagger on as it is, lurching from crisis to crisis, and delaying the upturn in the world trading economy.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (42) | Leave a comment
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Luis| 7.20.10 @ 7:20AM
I had great respect for Mr Johnson as a historian and essayist. Sorry to say, after reading this article all that respect has vanished. Hardly ever have I found such a vast array of ignorance, petulance, prejudice and ill-will directed against an entire continent and particularly against its southern mediterranean members than in this disgusting piece of tabloid journalism unworthy of such a formerly admirable pen.
As a Spaniard, and lover of many things having to do with Portugal, I found the part of the article dealing with the Iberian neighbours particularly disgusting. Mr. Johnson, in his ill-fated attempt at presenting a relationship built exclusively on distrust tends to forget that hardly ever in history Spain in Portugal have been closer in all aspects of life, be it civil society, cultural, economic or trade ties. And that is so thanks to a great extent to the EU. Millions of Spaniards and Portuguese interact everyday in a perfectly civilised way (and I say the same goes for Germans and French, Dutch and Belgian or Italians and Spaniards and so on and so on).
As to those scallywags Greece and Spain, here Mr Johnson just fails to call us, as many racist angloamericans these days, PIGS, but I am sure, by the tone of this article, that he had that derogarory term in mind. If so, here is what I have to say to Mr Johnson and his xenophobic compatriots:
- First, from the point of view of the average PIG it is not us but those TOXIC APES ( Anglo-Protestant Economies for those not in the know) the ones who are at the origin of the mess we are all in. Did Maddoff, Lehman Brothers, Norther Rock and the like happen in Madrid, Athens or Rome?
- Second, was it not the appalling level of greed, corruption, dismal risk assessment records and downright incompetence by regulators and operators alike in the City and Wall Street the main reason for the financial crisis? But of course, as a way of distracting everyone's attention it is easier to blame it on the Greek civil servant. After all he is another dark Mediterranean dago...
- Third, standing at -11,5% and 68%, the levels of budget and public debt in the UK ( not to mention in the US) are higher than, for instance, in Spain (11,2% and 53%). Besides, Belgium (96,7%), Germany( 73,2%), Austria (66,5%), France ( 77,6%), the Netherlands (60,9)and other nordics have higher public debts than Spain. Are they PIGS, APES or another kind of species?
- Fourth: as to the resurrection of the Northern / Southern Europe divide, well this is just a remake of the same old nonsensical Weberesque story about the superiority of Protestantism over Catholicism when it comes to running capitalism. And if so, what?. China and Equatorial Guinea are growing at a faster rate than the US, Germany and the UK, so should we infer that Confucianism and Animism are superior to Protestantism?.
- Fifth, all these articles and blogs written by anglos and nordics are full of the same storylines about them being responsible, over productive and so on and us Mediterraneans being little more than pampered children who have to be taken care of by real adults. Well, point taken. You in the North are the makers of history. And you know what? the results are not what you thing they are. Actually it was the competition for world domination between anglos and germans the single more important fact that led to two world wars. It was not the Latin races but those superior protestant nordics who are the cause for most of the bloodshed during the last century ( them and Slavic and Chinese communism). Responsible anyone?
- And this, sorry to be so frank, leads me to the miraculous Germans. Well, ladies and gentlemen, you like to say that you have been financing those Undermenchen mediterraneans who at the end of the day squandered your hard-earned money. To this here are some remarks: first, have you given back the moneis of the Marshall plan behind your economic recovery to the Americans? Answer,no you beggars,you did not, only the French under De Gaulle did for reasons of national pride. Second for every euro you have been putting on cohesion funds to the South you have been earning five via trade surpluses due to us consuming your goods instead of buying cheaper and most probably equally reliable non-German cars or refrigerators. From now on and as soon as we recover you can eat your cars with choucrut because we would rather buy Brazilian or Japonese or Chinese than German. Third, while Spain was abiding by the 3% Maastricht budgetary cealing you were running big deficits well above that limit in order to finance YOUR reunification and you know what? you succeded together with the French in arm-twisting the European Commission to look to the other side for five years without being punished for over-spending. The funny thing is that now you want to impose your obssesive anti-deficit behaviour on others only when it fits you...and all in order not to repeat the Weimar nightmare which was entirely of YOUR making. Fair enough?.
- As to the idea floated by Mr Johnson and others about expelling the South from the euro to be replaced by a Nordic euro-core. Well, think twice: Italy and Spain are the seventh and ninth largest world economies. Spain is the sixth largest world investor ( the second in Latin America, the fourth in the US and the second in the UK according to 2008 OCDE statistics). Together we are around 100 million consumers and both Italy and Spain have excellent multinationals which are simply first class ( ENI, Generalli, Santander, BBVA, Telefónica, Zara, Iberdrola, Acciona, ACS, all the Milan- based small and medium sized exporting firms...). So do you think Germany and maybe France are going to compensate that loss with the likes or one or two Scandinavian non-entities plus those economic giants: Belgium and the Netherlands?
All in all, Mr Johnson, you used to be a good historian ( ideologically biased, but let that be). Now you have just jumped to write this kind of rubbish just to pamper to the lowest instincts of some sectors of the angloamerican readership. Pity you.
Dan Hirsch| 7.20.10 @ 8:53AM
Luis;
It was awful nice of you to bring up all of those stereotypical nicknames for your fellow Europeans that Mr. Johnson obviously meant, but forgot to write.
It was equally helpful of you to come up with a number of displeasing (to you) policies that you could assail Mr. Johnson for espousing, after he forgot to mention them.
I can see how thoughtful, well-reasoned discourse such as yours is what Mr. Johnson was decrying.
Good luck, amigo.
KyMouse| 7.20.10 @ 9:37AM
Luis, your comments toward Paul Johnson remind me of the old expression, "You catch flak when you're over the target."
RAMIII| 7.20.10 @ 10:45AM
Dan,
Your satire is spot on! Luis' bitterness and malice is thinly disguised in his "reasoned" diatribe.
Dai Alanye | 7.20.10 @ 9:48AM
Just as it is easy to see which is the less successful nation--Germany or Greece, between Paul Johnson and Luis it is quite easy to see who is the racist.
And which is the dishonest scribbler, for that matter.
In any event, Mr Johnson's theme was not North vs. South but independent nations vs. bureaucratic hybrid monstrosity. Had Greece (and Spain, for that matter) never been able to demand Eurozone support they would never have got into such straits in the first place. They would, in other words, be poorer but happier nations today rather than improvident beggars.
Nicolas Ziener| 7.20.10 @ 9:59AM
Luis, I am French, and just to say that I definitely support your point of view.
Mr. Johnson, your paper is just wishfull thinking from someone who very strongly would prefer the EU to disappear. OK that's your right to desire that, but I very much doubt it's going to happen overnight because a lot of people (and I mean "people" not bureaucrats), just happen to think the EU is the best thing that happened to this continent for the last couple of centuries.
You have to consider where we come from if you want to assess the European Union.
The countries of this continent have been at each other's throat for the last 1000 years as constituted countries, and even more as population groups or tribes, in fact there has never been a 65 year peace tract like the one we enjoy now, in this part of the world, since the end of the Roman Empire, almost 2000 years ago.
You have to understand what an incedible achievement and progress it is to be able to say that today the probability of war between Britain and Germany (or France and Britain for that matter), is about the same as between say Texas and Arkansas.
As an American you don't know what it is to have war on your soil and this is a blessing you can thank the Lord for, every day of your life.
We know what it is, and it's not nice.
It is hell on earth.
I fortunately have not lived through it but my parents have; and I've been told of course, like all Europeans I suppose, we receive that with mother's milk you might say.
So I would advise you to be carefull with the word "hate", I feel you use it very lightly.
It is not a word to use lightly. Unfortunately for us in Europe, we have learned the hard way the meaning of this word and the consequences it can bring.
You definitely can't use that word when you speak of Germans and Greeks or any other interacting European nation. Say dislike if you want, most often it is "very temporary" dislike, but thank God it is not hate. Fortunately this time is over and that is thanks to the EU.
It is cumbersome, it is bureaucratic, it is not very democratic, OK, but it is PEACE at last in what was a hornet nest.
And it almost certainly will improve with time, I know it is a "cliché", but we and Americans definitely have a very different perception of time and history.
I was born in France, I feel 100% French, but my parents were Hungarian refugees, some in my family fought on Germany's side and ended in Russian Goulags as POW, my wife is from central France and her father fought with the American forces in North Africa, Italy and France.
Well, as I said, the sole fact that there is no resentment anymore today between all those people is paramount reason to support the EU all the way.
And I do ... no second thought about it.
Frank Walnghm| 7.20.10 @ 5:47PM
Mr. Johnson's article does not give the EU a chance to transform the Old World Economy into a successful entity.
There is something that one must remember about the Euro. The purpose of creating the Euro was to have a currency which would support the economic activities of the European Union. Prior to having any type of union there were various currencies, exchange rates, transportation tariffs and value added taxes within continental Europe. By having one currency allows for a profitable continuation of European commerce.
Greece and Spain are not economic problems. I do agree that a complete bail out is probably not the correct response although a slight adjustment within the economic union will not harm the system, if anything it will further strengthen their competitiveness, risk management and long-term monetary goals.
For example, it may be plausible to include a value added tax within Greece and Spain for a specific time period; seasonal rates. This would make inner transport within these states more expensive although it would not harm the overall European union. Certain items can be taxed as they are distributed within the different regions of Greece and Spain. This Value Added tax will be used to pay off the EU bailout fund that was used to ensure that these countries do not fall into economic collapse.
Yes, this is called regression. Regression towards the old ways prior to the Euro but if a country is to act irresponsibly they should not bring other member states down. Hopefully, this will make the future long term monetary decision more prudent.
Basically, the Euro is a currency which has the potential of offsetting various economic dilemmas as well as continue a strict monetary policy for the states involved.
Rick W| 7.20.10 @ 11:28PM
Nicolas:
A point of clarification about Americans never having experienced war on their soil. You are forgetting the American Revolution, the War of 1812 (in which the nation's capital was torched) and the Civil War, the bloodiest war in American history. I realize these are not "recent" events and do not compare to the devastation of the two world wars.
Lastly, I'm not sure what to make of Mr. Johnson's article. Are his observations based in still accurate perceptions or is he harkening back to the nationalistic views of his era?
Nicolas Ziener| 7.21.10 @ 7:48AM
You have a point there Rick, sorry I forgot that, especially the Civil War which was as nasty a war as war can be.
azcIII| 7.23.10 @ 8:34AM
"As an American you don't know what it is to have war on your soil...We know what it is, and it's not nice. It is hell on earth."
Civil War ring a bell? War of 1812? American Revolution? Mexican-American War? various Indian wars?
I seem to recall reading in my history books about AMERICANS spending some considerable time on YOUR soil fighting wars we did not start. Seems we liberated France from a particularly nasty infestation of Nazis and liberated a great number of death camp victims. How many did France liberate?
"...in fact there has never been a 65 year peace tract like the one we enjoy now"
Perhaps you should thank the Americans who have largely footed the bills for that. We not only helped defeat the Nazis, we helped rebuild much of what they destroyed. Then, we maintained bases and troops in Europe, at considerable cost to the US taxpayer, ever since. You enjoyed that peace largely as a result of the American (NATO relies most heavily on the US) military shield over you. You've spent your monies on social programs while we paid for much of your defense.
As one of those American taxpayers, I'm tired of listening to you Europeans insult us, belittle us and chide us for our unsophisticated ways and "cowboy" diplomacy, yet you expect us to ride to your rescue when a threat appears. We should "mind our own business," as you Europeans have been telling us for years. I think it's high time we took that advice. I, for one, am not willing to sacrifice any more blood or treasure for you ingrates.
George| 9.1.10 @ 9:14PM
Not to mention that if it were not for US support during the Cold War, continental Europeans would likely be speaking Russian and chugging vodka as their national drink.
D. Singh| 7.21.10 @ 9:28AM
Sir
Mr Ziener appears to suggest that the EUSSR (European Union of Socialist Republics (EU)) has ensured peace on the European continent: ‘…In fact there has never been a 65 year peace tract like the one we enjoy now, in this part of the world…’ he writes.
May I remind Mr Ziener that peace has been ensured by NATO and not the supra-national socialists of the EUSSR.
jd| 7.20.10 @ 11:36AM
Amigo,
Just because you don't like the premise of the author's article -- which discusses the fractious foundation of an artificially-created EU - stop with the instantaneous racist labeling. Seems to me that you were the first to attack the author and industrious northern Europeans as racist Anglos. The undeniable truth of the matter is, there is a cultural and traditional reason why southern European countries like Greece and Spain are in the mess they are in. Decades of liberal socialism compounded with a cultural , union-type mentality , esp. in Greece, has a lot to do with their plight. Just because you have an obviously deep-seated resentment against other European countries -- especially against economically successful ones -- just highlights the disparate interests among fellow EU countries.
Christopher Holland| 7.20.10 @ 9:57PM
Paul Johnson wrote an article saying that the EU is not united and its citizens hate each other. Luis wrote an article proving quite nicely that this was so. In soccer, Luis, this is called an own goal. Give yourself a red card and miss the rest of the season.
Sally| 7.23.10 @ 11:58PM
Luis: I'd say, you just proved Mr. Johnson's point. You seem to have something against everyone and let us all know in no uncertain terms. Methinks thou doth protest too much.
Pepe| 7.20.10 @ 7:29AM
When it comes to depicting the economy of Spain, the author shows that he is a complete illetrate who simply puts together the same old lies and false data disseminated by the likes of the FT, the Economist or the WSJ in order to blame the financial crisis on others.
Here is what FITCH has to say just a few days ago about the Spanish economy ( and you can be sure that Fitch is not on the payroll of the Spanish government):
"Spain's sovereign credit profile remains very strong and is underpinned by a high‐income and diversified economy, a “core” financial sector that is sound, a relatively high national savings rate, and a track record of responsible public finances, including an unblemished modern debt‐servicing record". And this ignorant of an author calls Spain a sacallywag economy? Is he an idiot or simply a poor ignorant trying to write about things he knows nothing about?
Dan Hirsch| 7.20.10 @ 8:41AM
Hey, Pepe;
In English, we spell the word as "illiterate."
Otherwise, thanks for demonstrating Mr. Johnson's observations of European internecine affection .
Peter| 7.20.10 @ 7:35AM
This is the kind of things that anti-European Britons like to write and read. They are a shame and should be kicked out from Europe. Their only goal in life is to create mistrut among continental europeans so that they can do what they only know to do: keep on profeeting from our divisions. They are a bunch of pirates afloat on an island thanks to the hands outs of their American cousins and the remnants of the booty they stole during their imperial past when they imposed their tyranny on half of the world and killed millions to robbed them.
RCV| 7.20.10 @ 2:36PM
Europeans have never needed anyone else to prod them into infighting. Lord, the last 500 years is littered with the bodies of intra-European battles. Like all nations, the British have much to answer for, but inciting European in-fighting is surely the least of their sins.
Christopher Holland| 7.20.10 @ 10:05PM
I never heard of pirates living on handouts - I thought they robbed ships for a living. Considering that the empire ended about 50 years, then the British have not done any looting for quite some time. I think the EU needs a Commissioner of Metaphors, with the accompanying bureacracy and ivory tower, to ensure more consistency in the insults and propaganda used.
Once again, you prove Paul Johnson correct by kicking an own goal. A red card for you, my friend - miss the rest of the season.
Alphonse| 7.20.10 @ 7:43AM
And this is the way British teach Americans about Europe? No doubt the Americans are considered to be among the most ignorant people on Earth. Instead of listening to die-hard fascists like Mr Johnson Americans should travel more and learn by themselves. On the contrary, their vision of the world will keep on being tainted by British prejudice. The result: Irak, Afganistan,Pakistan Palestine...all these crisis have something in common: they were created by the British in the aftermath of their imperial adventures and have been inherited by the US. The US should wake up and cut its remaining links with its former masters and slavers.
Dan Hirsch| 7.20.10 @ 8:46AM
Hi, Alphonse!
You may not have noticed, but we "Yanks" stopped following the English over 234 years ago.
Oh and in the last century, I do believe a fair number of my countrymen did visit Europe a couple of times to help you folks out of some little problems you all were having.
And I also recall our President Reagan asking one of your little leaders to "Tear down this wall!"
You folks ought to learn a little history, ours and yours. I'm guessing that you all are warming up to re-fight World War I. Good thing none of your little countries has any significant military strength. Oh, except for the Russians...
Christopher Holland| 7.20.10 @ 10:07PM
I take it the words 'Omaha Beach' mean nothing to you, you cheese eating surrender monkey.
Phillip| 7.20.10 @ 7:48AM
Brother, can you spare a pound? When the UK is on the brink of a total economic meltdown, when BP is polluting everything on Earth and at the seas, when most of the British financial sector is either nationalised or bailed out... has this guy the nerve to critisise Europe?
Dan Hirsch| 7.20.10 @ 8:58AM
Phillip, would it be better if he didn't yell "Fire?"
Are you claiming that Mr. Johnson has more 'nerve' than you?
I hope that TAS posts more articles critical of the EU. These guys are positively hilarious!!
davelnaf| 7.20.10 @ 8:19AM
As Mr. Johnson points out you have to have financial accountability with all the states of a union in order for it to work. It was a no-brainer from the get-go that something like a Greece crisis would happen sooner or later. But such is the European faith in government and technocrats it was believed the EU would work out in the long run.
Perhaps the biggest mistake the Europeans made was to believe that those ‘unsophisticated’ early Americans more or less discovered an easy formula for nation creation and all the rest was gradual adjustment to the plan. Europeans thought they could, like the US, start from scratch, too. But they didn’t start from scratch. Not by long shot.
Pico de Gallo| 7.20.10 @ 8:30AM
The spleen of the remarks from Luis to Phillip seem to suggest that Mr. Johnson's thesis is essentially correct. He has become a lightning rod for the bitter invective characterizes contemporary European relations.
Harry the Horrible| 7.20.10 @ 9:25AM
Kingston Trio: The Merry Minuet:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....mp;index=2
Yosemeti Sam| 7.20.10 @ 9:57AM
European countries' self ID preservation at play.
LOL.
Their answer to - disharmony in America among the ethnicities. Teaching us.
Showing us Philistines - the way to imprisoned harmony!
LOL.
J.C.Eaton| 7.20.10 @ 10:33AM
I can visit Europe[and have] and marvel at its' beauty, architecture, and in many respects, its' culture. I can also sympathize with the years its' peoples have suffered under the tender mercies of its' various conquerors, dictators, theives, and murderers on scales that numb the mind. I can consider the eruptions of some of this site's commentators calling the Brits "fascists"[absolutely hilarious in its' misguided attempt to deprecate] and smile,knowing that if it weren't for our benighted country [particularly the U.S. military] the whole oleaginous outfit would be speaking German or Russian and eating saurkraut or borscht. Deeeelightful!
RAMIII| 7.20.10 @ 10:51AM
Anyone remember the 100 Years War? These European Factions have existed for centuries and were only disguised by a common currency. They still exist!
Btw, watch the "resurrection" of the Roman Empire. This is where all this is heading. The only one who could rule this mess is the "man of lawlessness".
DD| 7.22.10 @ 3:38PM
You are correct,EU will break down in its small entities during the next 5 years.The trouble is:so will US and may not even take that long.Most likely shortly after the 2012 elections.As Americans,we should be a lot more concerned about our own house.Europeans are on their road to distruction, as well as us.We should not be on each others throats,not even on a blog!
jrjr| 7.20.10 @ 5:03PM
If one attempted to combine the current states of the U.S. into a United States without our imperial Federal gubbermint, do you think it would be achieved? Would it be a success. NO, and NO! It would not happen. Throw a New York or Jersey into a ring with Arizona or Wyoming and see what would happen without the heavy hand of an overseeing Fed government. A kissy kissy contest? That is what I see with the Euro union. After the combination of a few of the heavy weights who said yes to the EU, the others grabbed on or be left behind. At the time, it was a Euro group against the US that was kingpin. That has changed. Now the US is merely one of the also nations, thanks to our politicians.
D. Singh| 7.21.10 @ 9:18AM
Sir
I was delighted to read this article by our Mr Johnson. Public opinion in Britain has been against membership of the ‘EUSSR’ (European Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (the European Union)) since it was first introduced.
In the end, the EUSSR cannot be a democratic federation of states (unlike the USA (at least as originally conceived)).
There is an indestructible fundamental reason for this: the European Union has no demos (a people). That is what we call ‘the democratic deficit’.
There are real people on the continent of Europe, for example, Brits, Irish, French, Italians and Germans – but there is no such people as a European People.
How right Michael Novak, the pre-eminent American Catholic neo-conservative political philosopher is; in his 1991 book, The Spirit Of Democratic Capitalism, published just after the fall of Communism, he wrote that:
"One of the most outstanding characteristics of our age is that ideas, even false and unworkable ideas, even ideas which are no longer believed in by their official guardians, rule the affairs of men and ride roughshod over stubborn facts. Ideas of enormous destructiveness, cruelty, and impracticality retain the allegiance of elites that benefit from them. The empirical record seems not to jut through into consciousness to break their spell. The class of persons who earn their livelihood from the making of ideas and symbols seems both unusually bewitched by falsehoods and absurdities and uniquely empowered to impose them on hapless individuals."
Hermann Maier| 7.22.10 @ 2:46PM
Ah, more demagogic bragging about the U.S. vs. Europe from the Spectator. Little problem here - this article, like Hannity, Beck and now Breitbart, focuses on creating hate where there is little or none. Why do conservative pundits do this? Why do they love 1) boasting about America vs. the world, and 2) trying to create antipathy between social and ethnic groups. Any help here?
On a personal note, I have travelled in 45 countries and met thousands of Europeans. They routinely .... routinely .... express FAR more antipathy about the U.S. government, American foriegn and domestic policy (e.g. healthcare) than they do about there neighbors. FAR more.
REB| 7.23.10 @ 12:49AM
Envy is not a good thing, yes we have problems here in America,mainly a marxist loving moron in DC,but......we will fix that problem and we will be back to where we usually are and doing well,thank you! What you and others say or "express antipathy" about matters very little,and besides we arnt responsible for the policys of the federal govt,we hope to kill that monster shortly and then American foreign policy can reflect more of what the founders intended,honest trade with all nations ...entangling alliances with NONE! You might even miss us,just a bit,next time you get into one of those famous wars you guys like to fight all the time,good luck!
Pat Fields | 7.22.10 @ 5:38PM
All virtual 'money' suffers from the same kiss of death. Principal (that is cash) is issued at compounding Interest. So, one SHOULD ask ... where's the Interest supposed to come from? Only one place, of course, from further issuance of 'money' ... at compounding Interest ... ad infinitum!
That reciprocal creation of Principal and Interest leads the paper 'money' Maw to ultimately consume all surplus productivity of the infected economy in Interest Service until it implodes in utter destitution.
The ONLY solution and extrication from the inevitable effect is to convert banknotes to whatever residual real value left in them.
In the US, the Fed Notes, having eroded 97% in their purchasing power, are properly and equitably convertable to a 10 gram copper piece which would then trade seamlessly on a 1 for 1 basis to the old Fed Note.
MichaelAdams| 7.22.10 @ 8:38PM
First of all, I read European media, and listen to their broadcasts, and I can tell you that, if conditions in the US were anything like what I read and hear, I'd be on the first boat out of here. It's no surprise that their is a great deal of antipathy toward the US, if people believe what they are told, and they usually do.
It's been several years since I traveled in Southern Europe, but people's attitudes, even back then, were that their governments were kleptocratic. Note, please, that Mr Johnson did not say that Greeks or Spaniards are inferior ethnic groups, which would be racism. He merely stated that they had, as I also observed, crooked governments, and that the Germans and others resented being saddled with the results of such misrule. The vituperation that such an innocent suggestion has provoked, the willingness, nay, eagerness, to try to make the present generation of Britons or Germans pay for the misdeeds of some0ne who was an active adult sixty five years ago, and who is therefore, likely, dead by now, point up the weak foundation of the whole EU scheme. BTW, most Americans have a pretty favorable impression of European cooperation. Even our geography books, fifty years ago, described the rising prosperity resulting from the establishment of the Common Market. We are proud of our accomplishments, and tend to rejoice when our friends do well, also.
There's a funny thing ab0ut sins. Few people have the capacity to commit them all. Gluttony, for example, tends to blunt lust, first by making us unattractive, then by making us unable. Similarly, pride and envy are antagonistic. If an American expresses envy, people are likely to ask, "Well, then, why don't you get to work and get such a nice house, car, girlfriend, too? The answer is rather a blow to one's pride, don't you know. So, we in America have a lot of pride, but not much envy. Therefore, it is pretty rare to hear an American speak disparagingly of another country. (Disparagement being the back side of envy) We may talk about something funny that happened there, but it is as likely to be a riff on our own naivete as ridicule of Italian or Spanish police or French civil servants, who may be despised, but much more by their own countrymen than by Americans.
I realize that people may take a comment like "It's so old!" as disparagement, but it tends rather, to be awe. America is still rather new, and sometimes even raw. We admire the dignity conferred by age. Bear in mind, a truly provincial and chauvinistic American would be unlikely to go to the trouble and expense of traveling in Europe. While I am on that subject, many times more American have traveled in Europe than Europeans have visited America, even though cars and fuel tend to be cheaper here, making it pretty easy to get around. Also, nearly everyone who has immigrated here reports that Americans tend to be very welcoming to foreigners. They tell me that they expected put-downs and slights, and gradually came to understand they were just going to find any. A few years ago, when an English writer announced his naturalization, I sent him a short note, ending in "Welcome home." He wrote me a touching reply, that he had received so many such missives, and that he felt it was another reason to know that he had made the right decision. We just don't hate foreigners, don't even hear the word "foreigner" as pejorative. We are having a pretty lively debate these days, about better control of our borders. Our leftward-leaning media describe this as "anti-immigrant" sentiment, completely ignoring the easily learned fact that the first people to complain about illegal immigration, forty and fifty years ago, were Americans of Hispanic heritage, who saw that importing millions of uneducated Third-World workers was ill advised, and would have its most negative impact upon Hispanic and African-American workers. We have may faults, but ethnic antagonisms are not usually among them.
So, Americans thought that the Common Market was a grand idea, since peaceful cooperation was likely to produce peace, rather than wars that tended to suck us in. We view the further development, the EU, as a version of what some are trying to inflict upon us here, with more and more decisions made two thousand kilometers away from us, in Washington. We want both the EU and increasing federal power to fail quickly. We know in our bones that they will fail, but we fear a slow failure, one that allows people to grow accustomed to lower standards of living over a couple of generations. That, and not ethnic resentments, is the reason that Classical Liberal publications carry frequent stories about developments and deterioration in the EU.
Peter Halferding| 8.11.10 @ 2:13PM
British Diplomacy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZUOkGxGUVs
Sir Humphrey Applebee explains it all in 90 seconds.
Paul Johnson seems to try to pass the test for a post in the British Foreign Service, but misses the jolly good fun part, that makes British Humour joyous and bearable.
peter| 6.28.11 @ 7:30PM
Well I have to agree, I'm English and I hate everyone but the Irish, I think they are a bit thick, I mean they have been in the Eu for a number of years and saw the damage it did to the people of Europe, then went out and voted to stay in. You have to admit, that's thick. The EU is a concentration camp, but bearing in mind the Germans run it, you cant expect anything else. I think we need a good war, but who would you fight, we just have so many enemies, lol.