Multiculturalism is a good thing, the USA is a good example for this. In
Europe we have France, Italy, Germany, Greece and Spain. Each country has a
its own wonderful language, individual history and rich culture. And yet all
of them have a common economic and political system. I think an economic
union can exist without a political union, as long as the economic and
political systems are similar enough. The economic system in western europe
is based on social market economy. The political system is based on
democracy and free elections. Monetary union can exist if there is an
economic union, which exists in the EU. If things get bad in Germany, people
are allowed to work in Greece, and vice versa. Europeans can work in any
European country.
Did someone notice that all these talks about the Greek debt crisis suddenly
stopped as Greece gained access to the emergency funding program of the EU?
Is it possible that all these talks just covered a hidden power struggle who
gets access to the rescue funding program of the EU? You need to stir up
attention to wake up the bureaucracy of the EU. Greece is not bankrupt,
there is a lot of money there. It is still a rich European country, compared
to Africa and other regions. The money is certainly not equally distributed,
and often it is spend for the wrong things (like ridiculous expensive
military machinery). Tourists leave a lot of money in countries like Greece,
but the money is in the hands of a few big corporations and some very rich
people. The riots in London and Athens are a sign that people are
unsatisfied with the growing gap between the rich and the poor.
So what is wrong? We need more transparency, more democracy, and more
concern for the environment. In return we need less bureaucracy, and less
military spending. There is too much bureaucracy in the EU, especially in
the European Commision. If there is no crisis, the bureaucracy will hardly
move. The political system is partly corrupt and controlled by lobby
groups, which represent the big corporations and banks. All western
countries have so much deficit that they seem to belong to the banks
already. We are ruled too much by bankers and lobbyists. At some places,
capitalism is getting out of control. The rich are getting richer, the poor
are getting poorer. The Europeans should think about the social problems of
capitalism, if the social market economy is really social enough.
Jochen
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