Germany warns Britain not to 'blackmail' Europe
Published: 24 Dec 12 08:23 CET | Print version
Online: http://www.thelocal.de/politics/20121224-46955.html
German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble has warned Britain against "blackmailing" its EU partners in a bid to bring powers back home from Brussels.
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Asked whether a debate raging in Britain about a possible referendum on the country's future in the 27-member bloc was "dangerous", Schäuble said the European Union needed to send a clear message to the rest of the world.
"Our British friends are not dangerous. But a referendum would create uncertainty," he said.
He said he only got "cross" with Britons over football, adding he hoped for "more British engagement in Europe, not less."
Britain has belonged to the European Union since 1973 but has not joined the 17-nation eurozone.
Schäuble has served as Chancellor Angela Merkel's main ally in Berlin in plotting an austerity-driven course to resolve the eurozone debt crisis as well as greater political integration of the bloc.
British Prime Minister David Cameron, a Conservative, said last month he still supported British membership of the EU but could not accept the "status quo" and called for a "new settlement" involving the repatriatiion of some powers. He has so far avoided offering a clear "in-out" referendum despite strong pressure for clarity on the issue from his party.
Tensions flared last month when Cameron opposed a new €1 trillion EU budget for the next seven years, saying that it was unacceptable to raise spending at a time when many countries were implementing austerity measures at home.
A recent poll in British weekly newspaper The Observer found that 56 percent of Britons surveyed would vote to leave the EU given the chance.
AFP/mry
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Your comments about this article:
On 4th of December, Mirza Masroor Ahmad, the head of Ahmadiyya Muslim Community while adressing select gatheirng of Europa Parliament said,
¦quot;The formation of the European Union has been a great achievement on the part of the European countries, for it has been a means of uniting this Continent. And so you should make all possible efforts to preserve this unity… Remember that the strength of Europe lies in it remaining united and together as one. Such unity will not only benefit you here in Europe but at a global level will be the means for this Continent to maintain its strength and influence.¦quot;
He is an eminent religious leader with no interest of grabbing any political power. His words carry lot of depth and wisdom. In my view point leaders of the continent have to show understanding to each others view point and should decide what is good for all the member states. Just and fair treatment with all the members of union should be ensured.Unfortunately if union broke it will be a catastrophe for the whole continent.
As this is what fuels the the 'dark ages bickering' and prevents the EU's parliments from making any real progress.
The austerity measures are splitting Europe and the German arrogance towards is so called partners is breathtaking ,there is a fair chance G.B. will leave the E.U. sad but at least it will be a democratic decision which is unlike many of the ones now taken in the E.U. .
Will anyone be given a vote on greater expansion? ,that is a question that needs a answer .Because the last expansion caused a flood of immigration into the U.K. and others which has seen a rise of the right in many liberal western countries .
We are on a cliff edge and need a vision from Europe as to how we can recover not threats ,as well as more open and democratic running of the E.U. in general .
Germany is not immune to this change of attitude within the E.U. put that to a poll and I'm sure you will see simular results in fact many countries would feel something is wrong with the dream but the politicians will not ask the electorate.
p.s. Yes keep religion and race out of this debate.
And following up once more at Zubair and other religious followers. This is a democratic political debate. Religious leaders points of view do not belong on this stage. That goes for all religions equally.
Religion has no part in Democratic free approach but economic management should measure up to human sustenance rather than corporate capital with tax relaxations and economic austerities imposed on those who help build up capital and struggle to earn their daily bread.
A simple in/out referendum would do the exact opposite i.e. clarify whether or not Britain should remain in the EU, with the closer integration that entails. Polls now show that a clear majority would vote for Britain to leave the EU and about 75% do not wish to cede further powers to the EC - perhaps this explains the broadly pro-EU but "sitting on the fence" attitude of both major political parties in the UK.
Voters over the age of 53 had an opportunity to vote for Britain to remain in the Common Market back in 1975. The mainstream political parties all supported a "YES" and told us "it is only a trading bloc, with no federal ambitions". Of course, we now know otherwise and documents recently declassified show that government ministers and senior civil servants discussed how to mislead the electorate, in the run up to the 1975 referendum.
Germany needs to realize what works in Germany does not always work elsewhere. Austerity will not lift the heavy indebted nations out and
It is noted that neither will Germany.
Religion, by all means keep that out of politics, as politics is bad enough with out making it worse.
The euro is the currency of "some of" the EU member states. The markets play a large role in determining which entities have a say in world wide monetary affairs. A great deal of european banking business and influence has migrated to London and Zurich since the euro came into existence, precisely because the markets are uncomfortable with the political interference of Brussels which only seems to increase year by year.
anti-german populism, you should become friends with berlusconi.
May I suggest a little article on the future German that may come about ,it is on Spiegel on line today called "Schäuble's Secret Austerity Plan for Germany2
read it and don't weep get very very angry with the lies and skullduggery of our now and hopefully not future masters.
Please let us know what you think.
Always on my case. Look at the media coverage in Germany on the Euro crisis and look at the sound waves coming out of the government mouths. Yes, EU countries are represented in the EU parliament but until either we break up the Euro zone or centralise more power to a European elected central EU parliament then Dr. Merkyl and Mr. Hyde and her Bangster buddies will run the EU and Eurozone for themselves. Germans are known as followers and it won't be until next year or later that enough of them realise she ain't doing them any favours either. Hopefully they will realise it before the next election but I won't bet on it.
"Voters over the age of 53 had an opportunity to vote for Britain to remain in the Common Market back in 1975. The mainstream political parties all supported a "YES" and told us "it is only a trading bloc, with no federal ambitions". Of course, we now know otherwise and documents recently declassified show that government ministers and senior civil servants discussed how to mislead the electorate, in the run up to the 1975 referendum."
I would go further and ask where HASN'T there been a case of the government saying one thing and then doing the other. Or simply going far beyond the original stated boundaries. The government will ALWAYS take a mile after only asking for an inch. In America we call that the slippery slope. An avalanche always begins with a single snow flake.
I am 53 and I didn't have a vote in 1973 as the U.K. does not give the vote to 16 year olds.
For years now, all parties in the Bundestag have been deliberately avoiding the possibility of more political influence by the general public. They were not asked whether they wanted the Euro. They were not asked whether their young soldiers should be sent into other countries, to die for reasons little more than political prestige and they were certainly not asked whether tax-payers money should be wasted in foreign countries, to support corrupt governments, incapable banks and other unworthy organisations.
Britain may be a very unwilling member of the EU, but were Merkel and Co., to ask their own electorate what the people really want, the answer would have little relationship with the policies of the government. Cameron is not the best PM, and the government of Britain is a disaster for the country, but almost anything would be better than what the Germans now have in Berlin.
Instead firing salvos on the word religion, just examine the statement made. Any one can make any statement. Wise people say examine the words and not the person who said it. Unity has strenght and EU must preserve it.
Cameron is protecting the interests of banking houses, which we now know, were turned into casinos prior to 2008, thus harming the world economy and the finances of working families.
Cameron is pretending (along with "euroskeptics") that somehow Britain is losing sovereignty. Once capital could cross borders, sovereignty went out the window. Brits need to give up these quaint ideas of empire and paranoid populist notions that they have ceded power to 'foreigners'.
Merkel and Schäuble are right. And the interests of ordinary working people in Britain are better served by them than Cameron's anti-EU baloney.
True, when transactions are direct between subject taxpayers and their elected ruling governance with 'Exchequer' owned co-jointly and transactions recorded and audited with allowable transparency. Third party Banking Bearers also should conform to the bilateral path of checks and balances, and not vested with the dark power of Maya holding its sway over both people and governments, whose transactions are carried out in gloomy lobbys of speculative corporate management houses.
Read this about your heroes and then come back and tell me why the Brits should trust them . "Schäuble's Secret Austerity Plan for Germany" it is in spiegel on line international 24.12.2012.
They are contingency plans, which every corporation and government should make. While Spiegel might want to garner readers' attention with some conspiracy headline, the facts simply don't bear that out.
To put a finer point on it: I trust government much more than Big Banksters when it comes to economic planning. We've had enough of bankers controlling government policy and regulations. In fact, it was that situation that caused the economic meltdown in 2008. And British banks were at some of the worst of it and are resentful of being reined in and are even more threatened by suggested EU bank reforms.