tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6698298.post4487577874075300242..comments2023-03-16T12:11:56.318+00:00Comments on David Hugh-Jones: On the Euro crisisdavidhughjoneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01123256773062047048noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6698298.post-85094873529071958662011-12-07T14:51:21.998+00:002011-12-07T14:51:21.998+00:00Well, I think the question is how credible the &qu...Well, I think the question is how credible the "rules" will be. The last rules (the Stability Pact) weren't enforced when they applied to the strong. So, I can imagine Brussels demanding ex ante control over budgeting in Greece, and maybe punishing indiscipline ex post. I find it hard to imagine France tolerating the same. <br />As for the integrated labour market... over time, that may happen, but it hasn't happened yet, and there are big obstacles in its path: language, national labour regulations....davidhughjoneshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01123256773062047048noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6698298.post-29811783970510771142011-12-07T09:39:13.392+00:002011-12-07T09:39:13.392+00:00"... European government structures are being..."... European government structures are being created as a panicked response to a crisis. These structures are likely to be less democratic, more centralized (with Germany being the centre), and also to set in stone the Eurozone's problems, as follows:<br />--There will still be a single currency without the integrated labour markets that would help it to work.<br />--There will still be the temptation to fiscal indiscipline, which will have to be prevented by centralized control."<br /><br />Why would these be "set in stone"? Greater EU (or eurozone) control of national budgets/deficits would surely tend toward greater integration of national economies, ie over time a more integrated labour market. And certainly they wouldn't set in stone the (current)temptation to excessive national-budget deficits and consequent borrowing; they would tend to deter these precisely because the governments concerned would know in advance that they risked being stamped on.<br /><br /><br />"Fans of democracy, freedom and responsible politics should not find this an appealing prospect. It would also be a national defeat for Britain, because we would be on the periphery of a large centralized Eurozone with very different economic interests and values to our own."<br /><br />Agreed about what fans of democracy should feel. Disagreed about the eurozone having different economic interests--except that any nation's interests are its own, not other people's. Or different economic values; unless you think that extreme free-marketry is a British value, as it was to M.Thatcher, but surely not today even to her Tory sucessors.Lynnoreply@blogger.com