Will the EU succeed or fail?

[Lone Star]

. . .

Veroufakis, the ex finance minister and a very clever man, is now calling for preparations to exit the Euro and to go back to the Drachma, I'm not sure how that sits with the Greek people but to me it makes perfect sense, to have relinquished control of their currency has driven Greece to near bankruptcy.

. . .

Just another example of each country's loss of autonomy that grates on governments and their citizens.

[vincemunday]

Just read a really good article from Bloomberg who aren't particularly known for political bias so we can pretty much accept this for what it is, it would seem things aren't quite as rosy economically in the EU as they might have us believe, interesting to also note that Macron has hit new lows in the popularity polls, it's difficult to see how he can hang on much longer with only 25% or so if the population behind him, he's definitely going to have trouble getting through his proposed cuts, the French don't like roughing it and with Paris beginning to look like a war zone in places, let's see how the next few weeks pan out.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles ... -headaches

[papafarang]

with the state of most economies in Europe it don't look good . it should have stayed as the original 7 , what is it now , 28. and how many of the 28 can say their economy is great, very few. Oh well were out of it next year , climbing into the lifeboat before the ship sinks . let's hope it works out for us .
one thing that will be funny , the border with north and southern Ireland, for obvious reasons the british government won't put a hard border up so it will be left to the EU to do so, that will be quite funny when the Irish find out their Ireland has be partitioned by the EU . and they won't be happy about it. united Ireland will be even further away than it was before

[rick]

Ireland? Maybe not Dean. Last survey done in Northern Ireland showed 52% in favour of a United Ireland if their is going to be a hard border. Scotland also showed a Majority for independence if a hard Brexit. Little England, here we come!

[dunroaming]

Of course EU will survive Germany finally have what they tried twice before and failed to have

[vincemunday]

lol I'm not sure that's enough to save it, economically they're in dire trouble and there's a few countries so sick of the immigration they are quite likely to also vote themselves out, time will tell I guess.

[Chuchi]

Swedish election results are due in soon

[vincemunday]

I'm waiting for the result Chuchi, these could be VERY telling times...

[Lone Star]

Sweden's Social Democrat Party has worst performance in a century -- not since 1908.

“Sweden, the homeland of multiculturalism and the model of the left, has finally decided to change after years of rampant immigration." - Matteo Savini, Italian Deputy Prime Minister

Apparently, Citizens in many European countries want to preserve their borders, their heritage and their societies.

[pipoz4444]

According to News/Europe

"Sweden faces hung parliament as far right makes gains

That gave the centre-left 144 seats in the 349-seat parliament against 142 for the Alliance, suggesting weeks of uncertainty before a workable government can be formed.

The ruling Social Democrats remained the biggest party with 40.6 percent of votes, marginally ahead of the centre-right Alliance, which garnered 40.3 percent in the polls, results showed after most votes were counted on Monday"

So !9% is up for grabs with...........?

So one of these two may have to join and co exist with..............to get their 50%.

Not much gap between the two main players , I wonder how close their political views are.

They may have to do a GERMANY ?????

pipoz4444

[tamada]

According to News/Europe

"Sweden faces hung parliament as far right makes gains

That gave the centre-left 144 seats in the 349-seat parliament against 142 for the Alliance, suggesting weeks of uncertainty before a workable government can be formed.

The ruling Social Democrats remained the biggest party with 40.6 percent of votes, marginally ahead of the centre-right Alliance, which garnered 40.3 percent in the polls, results showed after most votes were counted on Monday"

So !9% is up for grabs with...........?

So one of these two may have to join and co exist with..............to get their 50%.

Not much gap between the two main players , I wonder how close their political views are.

They may have to do a GERMANY ?????

pipoz4444

Remember they predicted weeks of uncertainty when May shot herself in the foot with her mis-called UK election. Although it took the best part of 10 days for the devil is in the details to be sorted out, it was pretty much a given that she was shacking up with the DUP within a few days of the Tories election debacle.

Is there anything like the DUP that either the Social Democrats or the Alliance can do a deal with similar to May's unholy alliance? Looking at the following, anything that has 'Left'. 'Liberals' and 'Christian' in their moniker gives me the shudders. Maybe it's down to the always safe Greens to be bridesmaid but never a bride again? But for safety in numbers, it's got to be the Center, no? My tip is for the Social Dems to get it together quicker. The Alliance is already a coalition and they always say that two's a party but three's a crowd.

Who ya gonna call?

[Chuchi]

According to News/Europe

"Sweden faces hung parliament as far right makes gains

That gave the centre-left 144 seats in the 349-seat parliament against 142 for the Alliance, suggesting weeks of uncertainty before a workable government can be formed.

The ruling Social Democrats remained the biggest party with 40.6 percent of votes, marginally ahead of the centre-right Alliance, which garnered 40.3 percent in the polls, results showed after most votes were counted on Monday"

So !9% is up for grabs with...........?

So one of these two may have to join and co exist with..............to get their 50%.

Not much gap between the two main players , I wonder how close their political views are.

They may have to do a GERMANY ?????

pipoz4444

Remember they predicted weeks of uncertainty when May shot herself in the foot with her mis-called UK election. Although it took the best part of 10 days for the devil is in the details to be sorted out, it was pretty much a given that she was shacking up with the DUP within a few days of the Tories election debacle.

Is there anything like the DUP that either the Social Democrats or the Alliance can do a deal with similar to May's unholy alliance? Looking at the following, anything that has 'Left'. 'Liberals' and 'Christian' in their moniker gives me the shudders. Maybe it's down to the always safe Greens to be bridesmaid but never a bride again? But for safety in numbers, it's got to be the Center, no? My tip is for the Social Dems to get it together quicker. The Alliance is already a coalition and they always say that two's a party but three's a crowd.

swedelect18.jpg

The centrist liberals backed up by the hard left of Sweden will carry on regardless ignoring the growing discontent and concerns with a large proportion of their public ,which in the end creates even more division .
The crazy thing is the very principal of the EU parliament with the use of proportional representation system ( every vote/citizen counts) could in the end be their undoing.Its the EU elections next year ,you could have a situation where more seats are held by anti Eu parties as it’s the only place where these people have a voice . Unless of course the centrist liberals backed up by the hard left decide it’s time to change the voting system :-"

[tamada]

Getting back to the topic, since the EU have unilaterally declared the Chequers deal as unacceptable, maybe, like some major banks of yore, they consider that collectively, they are just too big to fail?

They could arguably counter TM's demands for a constructive critique of Chequers by saying their rather anonymous 'no' is because it's not their business. Since it's the UK that wants freedom, it's up to the UK to work up a definitive business exit plan, no? However, if the UK's imminent departure was as insignificant to the EU as their Salzburg rejection suggests, does anyone wonder if there is anyone in the EU's chart room actually plotting a collision-avoidance course despite the various 'captains' of Barnier, Junker, Tusk, Verhofstadt, Merkel and Macron periodically going up to the bridge to make rather cosmetic steering adjustments... or stir ---- to deflect from flagging home popularity as the case may be?

[yartims]

when the UKs payments cease they will all be squabbling about filling the gap and the whole edifice will collapse ,its built on easy money spending

[tamada]

when the UKs payments cease they will all be squabbling about filling the gap and the whole edifice will collapse ,its built on easy money spending

Got a lot to do with it. They haven't saved for a rainy day.

[vincemunday]

Not great news for Merkel, she been under pressure for a while because of her party underperforming in elections, could this be the final nail in her political coffin? Interestingly and perhaps worryingly the right wing AfD did much better than expected.

Further pressure for Merkel after Bavaria allies CSU lose majority to far-right and green parties
http://news.sky.com/story/further-press ... s-11526225

[joudon]

What is this preoccupation by the media of labelling anyone who does not have left leaning views as 'far right'. The ressurgence of nationalist sentiment has been fuelled by uncontrolled mass immigration of people who quite simply refuse to integrate and are set on a course to recreate the hell holes they claim to flee from. To call people far right when all they are seeking is to preserve their ways of life , is just the way the leftwing in Europe and increasingly in US seek to demonise all who disagree with them.

[tamada]

... The ressurgence of nationalist sentiment has been fuelled by uncontrolled mass immigration of people who quite simply refuse to integrate and are set on a course to recreate the hell holes they claim to flee from. ...

And here's where their own recycled rhetoric continues to get the extreme right all riled up. Since MOST of the recent influx of economic refugees from Sub-Saharan Africa and certain middle-east war zones haven't even been granted any form of permanent domicile in any significant numbers in any particular country where their alleged refusal to integrate can be seen, then it's simply more, groundless nationalist hate arguments without substance.

...as usual.

[tamada]

Not great news for Merkel, she been under pressure for a while because of her party underperforming in elections, could this be the final nail in her political coffin? Interestingly and perhaps worryingly the right wing AfD did much better than expected.

Further pressure for Merkel after Bavaria allies CSU lose majority to far-right and green parties
http://news.sky.com/story/further-press ... s-11526225

Has Merkel dodged her last bullet? More on this with a final, insightful observation on what is keeping the same ---- from happening in the UK.

"But tonight’s result also points to something broader. The CSU used to be the epitome of what Germans call “Volksparteien”, or “people’s parties”. These giant, big-tent, centre-right or centre-left forces used to have something approaching a monopoly on the politics of most Western European countries. But in most, that monopoly is disintegrating. The Gaullists and Socialists are losing their relevance in France while the far right, far left and radical centre surge. In the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and Italy the old Christian democrats and socialists have been diminished by more vital forces on the right, left and centre. In Greece and Austria the centre-right stumbles on, but social democrats are in crisis. In Germany support for the CDU and the SPD is falling almost across the board (with a few intriguing regional exceptions), while the Greens and AfD are rising. Only in Britain are the two traditional parties still strong, but they only have their country’s profoundly distorting electoral system to thank."

https://www.economist.com/kaffeeklatsch ... since-1950?

[GT93]

If there's going to be a Brexit deal, isn't Merkel the key player? If May had Merkel on board, that would almost be half the battle. Even if a domestically struggling politician, internationally the German Chancellor has a huge influence in Europe.

I think she's the key figure on Brexit. In all the circumstances I think she's arguably even more important than the British Prime Minister. And that's one reason so many Britons wanted out - a loss of sovereignty.