Euro Zone....

[R1Geezer]

It is estimated that within 2 years the Euro will collapse, precipitated by Greece and possibly Portugal, Ireland and even Spain. Can it's collapse be avoided? Will all the Euro Zone countries just resurrect their former currencies?

[kinell]

of course it is idiotic to have different nations trying to make a common currency work for all...

you have industrial economies, agricultural economies and down right lazy economies trying to balance a currency value..

the whole euro thing is total round things..

lets try the golf club analogy again.....

why would you invite someone to join who clearly cannot pay their fees?

that person probably hasnt even got any clubs (the means to contribute).

and if you are not so careful about who you let join when you get back to the locker roon someone has stolen your belongings...

and all in the hope that they might buy a packet of crisps off you..

[R1Geezer]

Sterling ain't on the extinction list is it?

[Gromit]

No, Sterling is fine. I think the UK staying out was the correct decision for us, and Brown was right. But the Euro currency makes sense, and its success underlines that. You are never going to get every country in Europe to be economically as strong as Germany, and there are bound to be some weak ones, but that balances things out.

[Brenden]

Germany and France will always make sure they are the strongest, as I posted before they will probably be the last two standing - makes you think.

[VHG]

>>>But how many European countries trust each other enough to rely on them to look after their best interests?

The USA was not always one country but was made up of many colonies.

Each had their own laws, language, and even money.

They had all sorts of probems trying to join a numer of individual colonies into one "country" (the USA). That was what the American civil war was partly about (it was not just the slavery issue but the rights of individual states to make their own laws and ignore some of those created by the national government).

Remember the name USA stands for United States of America, it is a group of united states.

Having said that I am still against the EU, if only to stop Roma gypsies from Romania being able to come here. We just dont want or need them here.

[rov1100]

Greece should be kicked out of the Euro club and revert to its former currency. Then the Greeks would be happy as no bailout would be required and their currency could float to find its own level. They may find it difficult when having to buy goods from the rest of Europe as it will put up the prices for imports but who cares. Britain has been doing that for years as we see the £ falling against the Euro and paying through the nose for a deflated currency.

[Gromit]

What a strange belief that leaving the Euro would mean Greece wouldn't need a bailout. The country has loans to payback but is near bankruptcy. A debt is a debt whether it is in Euros, dracmas or ouzo tokens.

[jno]

if it leaves the eurozone it should become nice and cheap for tourists again. You will be able to have a lukewarm moussaka in the evening for tuppence (aka one million drachmas), just like you used to.

[bazwillrun]

lets hope the predictiona correct, and maybe the EU folly can be put to rest.

I wonder if the Greeks will go ahead with the 50billion Eurosworth of privatisation that the EU are insisting on, we all know what that will mean for the Greeks...billions of euros profit for the suits and higher bills and non stop price increases on utilities etc to maintain profitability to pay shareholder dividends to no doubt foreign owned companies

[emmie]

i never ate a lukewarm moussaka, nor did i ever pay one million drachma for it anywhere i travelled across the country, i did drink retsina, cheap and very nasty, and as a friend of mine, who was born there said, the Greeks are a bunch of tax dodgers, who have had endless corrupt governments, its why nothing gets done. Why were they allowed to join the Eurozone in the first place, lied perhaps, well what a surprise, and how many others will come after i wonder..

[jno]

em, yes, the million-drachma price was just speculation about what the drachma might be worth if it's reintroduced when the country is on the brink of bankruptcy. Greece is full of houses with bits of metal sticking up from the roof, so they can say that it isn't finished yet - because you don't pay tax on it till it's finished.

I used to alternate - lukewarm moussaka one night, lukewarm souvlaki the next, then moussaka again. They didn't do much and they didn't do hot, but it was cheap. Maybe their cuisine has improved since the 1970s when I used to go there.

[emmie]

jno i know about the houses, i was going to make that point, but unless you been to the place, perhaps many wouldn't understand.
I love Greece, did lots of travelling around mainland and the islands, but the place is a nightmare of bureauracy, and endless form filling to do anything. I would go back, but same friend tells me since the introduction of the Euro and a number of other factors, everything is a hundred times more expensive.

[jno]

it did get expensive, but also the people in shops and restaurants tried to rip you off more; I always had to double-check my bill. Can't blame that on the euro. It just wasn't such a nice friendly place any more.