It happened very quietly, but as of Jan 1, 2004, Turkey is a full participant in the Socrates/Erasmus Europe-wide educational cooperation and exchange programmes. Turkish students can now go study anywhere in Europe for up to a year, much as European students have been doing for years. European students, of course, can now go hang out in Istanbul. Will it become the new Prague?
This is the kind of subtle tectonic shift that will eventually make Turkey’s entry into the EU inevitable, and I applaud heartily.
So, in your world, people are allowed to move about freely but they must change currency at the border? Silly.
Not quite. People get their money out of bank machines locally, because their bank cards work everywhere, so they never need to waste time in line.
But otherwise, absolutely. Both floating currencies and labor mobility are essential release valves by which the world’s economies adjust to varying productivity and asymmetrical shocks.
What you are saying is that it is good for European integration to have young people study at universities in other countries. I heartily agree.
What I am saying is that, in a similar sense, it is good for European integration to have the same currency over the whole of the continent. It will probably make people feel more like being in the same boat. It will probably improve trade across the borders. When people trade across borders, it is a Good Thing ™. And people in this case include not only students, as in the exchange-students-is-good-for-the-union policy we agree on, but also people from other walks of life. And making them somewhat less Eurosceptical than they are (at least in Sweden), is a Good Thing.
Your argument is based on the science of economics, mine on culture and politics. I have seen some fairly good arguments both for and against the Euro from economists, which makes me inclined to deal with the Euro as a political and cultural issue, rather than as something that can be deduced from whatever theory of the labor and monetary market one is using.
Gustav, I think it is not good for European integration to have a common currency that extends beyond an optimal area. The economic costs are felt by all Europeans, and while this may make them feel like they are in the same boat, it’ll be a boat they want to get out of.
Political projects have never worked if they require economic sacrifice. They have to be first and foremost wealth-creating in order to gain support. This is practically a law of history.
Recent opinion polls support this view: The euro’s popularity is waning because Europeans feel the economic sacrifices that are being made in its name are quite hefty. The jetissoning of the Stability and Growth Pact is a clear example of individual country governments capitulating to economic reality.
How can you be so certain that the Euro project will lead to economic stagnation, poverty and economic sacrifice? Do you have a magic crystal ball?
Personally, I am all for federalism and a future United States of Europe. Having Sweden, Denmark and the UK leave their currencies and joining the Euro zone is a way on that path.
oh stefan, what rubbish you talk. gustav, stefan has only murky understanding of the pseudo-science of economics, and what you say is spot on.
stefan, on your dubious laws of history, i encourage you to check out the example of the Zollverein in germany in the 19th century. it’s very apt. and surely you should be happy about the demise of the stability pact if you’re worried about adjusting to “adjust to varying productivity and asymmetrical shocks.” i suspect you’re just an atavistic ideologue on the euro.
Oh good. Another Euro debate. just what I needed.
Thank god that Sweden already voted on the issue and that the UK will stay out of this mess called Euro.
and Gustaf, the us of e is already here. we just voted not to be saps like the rest of europe.
Sorry. Eurof has already made the point, but “adjust to varying productivity and asymmetrical shocks” is too good to pass up. The construction alone suggests a pseud’s poor use of pseudo science. Indeed, lets use labor mobility to overcome economic shocks. Oil price rise? Move a bunch of people from Sweden to Saudi Arabia, that should counterbalance the effects.