Friday, November 11, 2011

Eurozone to break up?

Kalypso Nikolaidis - EU
Photo by openDemocracy
For those of you considering a move to Europe, be aware that the world financial crisis is still impacting us pretty damned hard. Basically, the PIGS (Portugal, Italy, Greece and Spain) are in such financial distress with the global collapse that they're threatening the stability of the Euro currency. That, in turn, threatens the stability of the Eurozone. Italy's problem is now reaching a tipping point and has led to public acknowledgement of talks between Germany and France to break up the Eurozone.

It's simply not possible to guess what's going to happen now. Will the EU break up? No, it's not going to happen. Will it lose a few members? Maybe. Will the Schengen Agreement allowing passport-free travel be revoked? Who knows?

Most importantly: will the ability of EU citizens to effectively live and work anywhere in Europe be curtailed? I expect we're going to see some changes here. Immigration is one the thorniest topics for nations and when the economy gets bad, lots of politicians play the "blame the foreigner" game. Never mind that Europe is still struggling like mad to fill their skilled labor gap; if we don't solve our financial woes, I expect some significant changes around here.
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1 comment:

  1. thedr9wningmanNovember 11, 2011 at 5:30 PM

    I think it's pretty ugly everywhere. I don't doubt that the Greece/Italy thing is bad, but when all is said and done, you still have your health(care), you still have great food (sourced locally by its very nature), you still have good people, you still have sustainability practices, you still have a carbon market, you still have a train and rail network that is efficient and amazing, you still have 10[currency] flights all over the continent, you still have housing for the majority of your people, and a cultural/moral cause for keeping social systems intact.

    Even when shit is bad there, it is still better than it is here, where we have to fight for environmental causes, for healthcare, to have our voices heard by camping out in front of rich people's workplaces, for the poor and hungry (which is an ever-increasing share of the population). You guys are arguing over the details; we're arguing over the basics.

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