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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: gamesmistress who wrote (89366)	4/2/2003 9:30:39 PM
From: Ilaine	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

In the US, "state's rights" has a somewhat bad reputation based on the support of "states righters" for Jim Crow segregation, and, going back a century or so, slavery. Putting all that to the side, the body of law that delineates the respective powers of the states and the federal government is called "federalism", and in the US it is far from moribund, especially these days, especially this Supreme Court. Federalism is alive and well, and has nothing to do with Jim Crow or slavery. I get a strong sense of deja vu all over again watching the interactions of France, Germany, Great Britain, Belgium, et al, as they try to figure out how to -- this is essentially all the EU was meant to do -- harmonize their currencies, coordinate national economic policy, and set aside trade barriers. Very interesting object lesson in "what does it mean to be a nation," and glad it's not me going through it.

To: gamesmistress who wrote (89366)	4/2/2003 9:42:43 PM
From: skinowski	Respond to of 281500

The new order may also be irreversible. Article 46 stipulates that the terms of secession from the EU must be agreed by two thirds of the member states. In other words, one third can impose intolerable conditions Well... Brussels sprouts a new Empire in Europe. It threatens to become a new bureaucratic paradise, irreversibly cobbled together by well-meaning founding gents. Some day we will be called upon to help them clear things up.

To: gamesmistress who wrote (89366)	4/3/2003 8:28:02 AM
From: skinowski	Respond to of 281500

It appears that the EU is infected with a rather virulent strain of the Socialist bug. I sent the article you posted (btw, recommended to those who didn't read it) to one of my German cyber friends. He wrote a reply, which I reproduce below, sin some mostly personal details: ------------------------------------------------------- Ambrose Evans-Pritchard describes things as they are and as I do see them for years now. Every European country liberately NOT joining the EU will have a very difficult stand as the sheer mass of EU-countries and market will lead to political and economical insignificance. This applies also to Britain. Is any company in the EU eager to do business with Britain, when there are different standards (legal, technical), which cost them money? The EU market is large enough - so why bother too much about the British market? What are the costs for British companies if they want to export to the EU if Britain stands aside? What would the London Financial District look like if Britain will not participate? The pressure on Britain to compromise will be very high. Are there allies if Britain would strongly oppose the Giscard d'Estaing proposals? Again Ambrose Evans-Pritchard described the situation quite correctly. Aznar could have been the person to stand up. But he will leave office in a few years and where will he go? I think Brussels may be the home of his next office. The new and coming memebrs? Their situation is described very well below. The character of the EU will be a very beaurocratic and regualtion heavy one. France and Gemany will be the leading structures and both will agree with that concept. The definite failure of this concept will get evident only after decades. You can take the EU-market for agricultural goods as an example: there is no market, there is regulation everywhere and these regulations failed to create an efficient market at all. Subsidies, subsidies, subsidies. No change in sight after five decades. Everybody knows about the failure, but the beneficiaries (mainly France)are strong enough to block any liberalisation of this market. So we will produce milk, grain, meat, .... in excess, store them in cooling houses and destroy them after a couple of years. And there are more agricultural goods to come from Poland, Hungary, Slowakia, Slowenia. As France enjoys the benefits of agricultural subsidies, Germany - in exchange - enjoys the benefit of subsidies for the inefficient mining industry. In exchange for Gemany subsidizing the mining industry Italy and the Netherlands are allowed to subsidize their transport industry. For that reason Austria is allowed to collect heavy fees for the usage of its trans-alpine autoroutes. I do not yet know, what Ireland will get in exchange for closing down its Dublin free port, which made Dublin a boom city. Unfortunately the EU looks still attractive to the Eastern countries. They can expect free access to the EU market and.......? Yes, .......subsidies! Subsidies, which will come very soon after joining the EU, while - in my view - the benefit of real free economic structures will come much later and the way to get there is much more cumbersome. There is another attraction of the EU system - especially for politicians: The EU beaurocrats are NOT elected. This makes it easy for every elected politician to blame the EU if something gets wrong with his politics. The forces which support the adopted course are evidently very strong. What can stop them? - A change of governments in France or Germany? Unlikely, although the Christian Democrats in Germany have a more liberal standpoint - but the Socialists in France definitely not. - Perhaps the dread of Germany, dominating and bossing all the smaller countries, fullfilling its imperial ambitions this way. Insofar blackening Germany's name may be a tool, mean, but may be justified for the sake of Europe. (...) The Murdoch newspapers and magazines are doing their best in Britain. Blair promised a people's vote about Britain joining the EURO zone or not, insofar it won't be easy to join the EURO zone. ...I am pessimistic. The experince of the last decades makes me think so.