European Future?

[edao]

Looking at the next 50-100 years people are living longer the global population has already exploded.
There is simply not enough resources to go around, money represents access to resources and it's no suprise that we now find our selves paying for the consuption of the last 20+ years.

A fragmentation of Europe will only make its harder for 'the people' of europe to get access to those resources.

The current problem we face it basically a redistribution of resources in Europe, the sharing of rich countires in the north with the struggling south. Merkel claims more Europe in her speaches but her words are empty, the point we have now reached is that more Europe means German money backing Italy, Spain, Greece, Portugal. This is a step the Germans are simply not willing to make, instead they think they can mend a crisis here and there and push through politican reforms in a Europe increasingly disillusioned with union. The chances of treaty change working let alone being able to get through so many poltical systems is at best a long shot.

The EFSF was meant to offer financial anchor for the euro based on global investors, but the truth is all the money needed to guarantee a stable Euro already exists in Europe. It's just the same old problems of how to distribute wealth?

Perhaps the Eurozone should just invade Switzerland empty out the banks accounts.

[francois14]

So you do not believe the EU and Europe could come out stronger from the crisis ? As a 'common' citizen (By that I am just assuming that you are not involved in politics or the economy in some way) do you blame the Greeks, the Spaniards or the Portuguese for the situation the EU finds itself in ? Or would you agree that it is a failure by Member States to blame each other or take Greece as a scape-goat, for the crisis, whereas they should have maintained some solidity and a union-like approach, taking the blame as a group ?

[Researcher]

What is the Future of Europe?? I think this question can not be precisely answered. Firstly, we can not identify and predict the future of Europe independently from America, Russia, and Asian countries. Due to the world trade markets that are interconnected to each other, our world became dependent on each particular actor. I mean, that it is a mistake of European Leader;s to fight with the crises in Europe alone, without bearing in mind any help. Too pride??? Secondly, a general citizen can not feel himself European when EU leaders distinguish countries, between those Greece and Spain that lead the EU to the hell. As long as there is separation between "us" and "them" there can not be a united European nation. Thirdly, Europe consists of numerous nationalities, identities, cultures and religions. Starting from Napoleonic epoch an up to the end of the Second World War, European countries were barely fighting with each other. What kind of union at all are you talking about??? Each tries to enreach independently from others, it's a dramatic truth but the world works like that.

[francois14]

Can anyone foresee the European Union drop the Euro ? or maybe some Member States exiting the Eurozone ? Here in Holland, there is a very large debate about the possibility of returning to the 'Gulden', the former Dutch currency. I have not heard such debates any where else, or at least it has not reached the same intensity, but to me what this shows is that there is no common idea of a European Future. The EU are trying to move in the same direction as a Union, but within the Member States, citizens are wondering whether the EU's direction is the right one. There are European FutureS being envisaged all around Europe, but at this point what is clear is that there is no unity around what the European Union should look like in the coming years...

[Cimmerianbloke]

It seems the UK have sent documents to their embassies in the EU to get ready for massive problems due to the collapse of the euro in the coming weeks. Talks about dropping the Euro are getting more and more audible, as no other solution seems to be out there. The whole continent is on the verge of a massive recession and depression, and no way of it in the coming months. Some economies will have to take the plunge, and some countries will have to go through hyperausterity measures to stop the debt spiral, with the social unrest it will trigger. We're on for interesting times...

[francois14]

Definitely not a very bright future ahead, seems like a lot of people in this forum share this skepticism towards our futures ! How do you feel as a German, do you think Germany has too much influence/power on the European Union ?

[Gieljom88]

I think this period can be seen as the biggest challenge for 'Project Europe'. The outcome of this period will be decisive for the rest of the century. Merkel and Sarkozy have already plead for a new (adapted) EU-treaty that has to be present in March -> stronger punishment for countries that exceed the budget deficit.

[edao]

I don't think Merkel quite understands what fiscal union means. All these half measure have been ripped to shreds by the markets and now she think a rule book is going to solve the problem, a rule book that is going to take months to pass into law.
Not to mention the tighter budget rules wouldn't account for Spanish economic collapse that wasn't really about government spending.

Fact is the Euros survival needs German money backing other countries, a move that has been rules out.

[Nasius]

Fiscal federalism is the only 'way forward' for the European Union. It's current structure binds member states to a common monetary policy and a separately controlled fiscal policy. As we've seen this has prevented the countries from effectively redistributing wealth during the crisis, hence the 'European Debp Crisis'.

[Cimmerianbloke]

Definitely not a very bright future ahead, seems like a lot of people in this forum share this skepticism towards our futures ! How do you feel as a German, do you think Germany has too much influence/power on the European Union ?

Actually, I was born in Belgium and worked my way around in Spain, Ireland, and in France before landing in Berlin in 2010.
Experience has shown me that versatile economies are more prepared to hard times than countries that heavily rely on government subsidies. I was in the south west of France at the height of the crisis (near Agen), and even though the nursing home where I worked was understaffed, it was very hard to get a full-time job because the company was using subsidies and only offered one month to three months contracts. I had to leave because life was getting too stressful, not knowing if you were going to be offered another contract at the end of the current month. Some of my colleagues have been living like that for years, alterning one-month contracts with unemployment the following to make sure the company gets subsidies to offer employment to unemployed people. Once in Berlin, I found a full-time job in one week. Salaries are lesser than in the rest of Germany, but costs are cheaper too.
My hindsight is that Germany has been the wallet of Europe for many decades (while coping with a difficult and costly reunification since 1991). I see it only as a fair thing for them to ask for guarantees their money is not thrown away. For historical reasons, the Germans have taken that role without any whining, conscient of their responsabilities in some of the worst events of the 20th century, but the new generation feels they do not bear the responsability held by their parents and grandparents and are entitled to enjoy the fruit of their hard work. Angela Merkel is the embodiment of that newfound confidence, and of the awareness that the German way is the only solution to the continent's economical woes. The heart of the problem is that Europeans' tolerance threshold to suffering is extremely low. The more I read the foreign press, the more I think about a child crying looking at the syringe before the actual injection is done. Injection whose purpose is to make him better...

[Mmuller]

European future is the sinking euro...