Posted on 05/29/2005 1:12:07 PM PDT by Betaille
French voters have rejected the proposed EU constitution in Sunday's referendum, according to an exit poll. The poll quoted by French TV gives the "No" side 55% - in line with surveys published in the run-up to the vote.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.bbc.co.uk ...
A rather bizarre, and irrational featurette of the current attempt to create the new OneWorld® Happyland by this administration and its Fellow Travelers in Brussels.
after all, the EU also shouldn't have a say in U.S. - Mexican relations
Don't tell Fox!
How do you post pictures?
IMHO, the most likely scenario is that an EU country or two starts to talk about reinstating their "old" currency.
Once the ball gets rolling, the Euro will die a natural and quite fast death.
As you stated, the "glue" that justifies a currency is the underlying concept of country.
A little humor goes a long way. By the way, I agree with your analysis on the EU.
I was also going to add the Japanese invasions of our territories but you that would have been overkill. :)
With France and Netherlands (which more likely to) vote "no", other "no" may come from UK... Where else? How about Poland and Denmark, who will have referendum soon?
J'ai le plaisir malveillant.
First of all, thanks for the warm welcome!
"However now days, socialism and welfare are causing terrible damage to the German economy, umepmloyement rate is highest since WW II ! It is true that Germany still the third largest economy in the world after the USA and Japan, but its economy is suffering greatly. I think the EU has greatly adopted a lot of the French heavy socialist and welfare economic model (disaster/failure) and unfortunately Germany with a willing weak socialist Chancellor Shroeder did not stop but welcomed it and caused terrible damage to the Germany economy."
Well, I'm afraid, Germany has brought most of it's current misery upon itself. Although the EU plays an important role here, it's not as important as many people "across the pond" may think. Of course, the EU is responsible for things like anti-trust legislation and that kind of stuff, and that's why it gets so much media exposure in the US (remember Microsoft, tariffs on steel and Airbus/Boeing?). But the welfare system is still firmly within every nation's own responsibility. That's why Germany managed to decline, while EU neighbours like Denmark thrive.
The main reasons:
1.) In the second half of the 16 years of the Kohl administration, the SPD gained many seats in the Bundesrat (federal coucil ~ senate) while Kohl himself became increasingly socialist, so Germany was unable to reform itself in the 1990s after reunification when the need for market-oriented reforms was most pressing.
2.) Plus 7 years of Schroeders red-green administration completely demolished Germany's competitiveness.
"Wolf, I may have been the American kid you saw living on the other side of the fence of the US military installation near your house in Germany. I still have very fond memories of living in Germany and she will always have a special place in my heart.
I'm in Germany 3-4 times a year on business/pleasure and I cringe when I see the media there (my spoken German is rusty, but I can still read/understand everything)since it almost universally anti-US. I wish guys like you and the folks over at Davids Medienkritik/Medienkritik Online had more exposure. I truly think you guys are the silent majority in Germany."
Ah, yes, Davids Medienkritik is always an intersting read ;-). I think, the problem with the German public is that because they don't understand the U.S., they automatically tend to resent it, which is just plain stupid. Of course calls for "Boycotting Germany" within the U.S. weren't smarter (especially, when indeed German and American troops still fight side by side in Afghanistan). I firmly believe that getting to know each other better is the best and only way to avoid such unpleasant episodes in the future.
But what really tipped me off was the way SPD and Green politicians used vile stereotypes (like Herta Daeubler-Gmehlin, who compared George W. Bush to "Adolf Nazi" or Gerd Muentefering, who likened American investors to locusts) to cover up their political failures.
But fortunately the times, they are a-changing, and even the traditionally more leftist media (like the Spiegel Magazine) have turned against the red-green coalition. It was a delight to read Michael Wolfssohn's (of the Bundeswahr University) refutation of Mr. Müntefering's claims at "Spiegel Online".
"Do you think that Frau Merkel is going to pull it off this September?
(BTW, her last name is a big part of my maternal family tree...hmmmm, I wonder if I can claim her as a distant cousin..)"
I'm quite sure, that Angela "Angie" Merkel will become Germany's next chancellor (But the fight isn't won yet!). I HOPE she will be able to unite her party behind a more market-oriented reform agenda, but that remains to be seen. Edmund Stoiber of Bavaria, for example, is still somewhat reluctant when it comes to a total reform of the German welfare system.
The EU would have been a free trade mechanism between those member states but they would have been extremely heavily protective against countries outside the union. Socialist no matter how they vote.
In an interview with French newspaper Journal du Dimanche (24 April), Mr Prodi said that a French rejection of the document on 29 May would result in "no more Europe".
"We will go through a great period of crisis. The problem will not only be a catastrophe for France, but the fall of Europe.
"A No would be catastrophic for Europe, from a social and economic point of view, not only political. And that is the whole contradiction: everybody knows very well that there is no Europe without France, yet France does not realise the chance it has with Europe. She should reflect on that because an isolated France would be very weak", said Mr Prodi who presided over the Commission during the making of the Constitution.
It's going to take more than just people not wanting it to happen. They'll have to want it not to happen, and they need to get very active in making their voices heard. The politicians are most assuredly not going to be proactive about it just to get votes. Both major parties in nearly every country are in favor of the EU, and they know that the electorate is pretty much stuck with them, unless the voters are willing to go off the board and vote third party. That's not usually an attractive proposition, even in European countries. True it is that third parties generally do a little better there than here, but even then, most of them are separate parties in name only, and in reality just attach themselves to some larger coalition. It's pretty tough to get a vote in edgewise, when your goals are different from the goals of the political establishment there.
Welcome aboard. Thanks so much for your informative, educational input.
Have a safe trip.
Thanks, PG
(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)
ROFL!!!!!!
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