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Latest update: 10/12/2011
- British politics - Economic crisis - European markets
Osborne: 'UK was right to opt out of new EU fiscal plan'
British Finance Minister George Osborne said on Saturday that the UK was protecting its interests by opting out of the fiscal plan for the EU, adding that much work still needed to be done to stabilise the euro.
By News Wires (text)
REUTERS - British Finance Minister George Osborne said on Saturday that euro zone countries had supported their currency by agreeing to draft a new treaty for deeper economic integration, but much work still needed to be done to stabilise it.
Osborne also reiterated Prime Minister David Cameron’s view that Britain was right to opt out of the plan for a fiscal union on Friday because it was not in the UK’s interests.
Britain was left isolated as the other 9 EU countries outside the currency bloc said they were prepared to back the 17 euro economies in a new treaty, although some sounded notes of caution.
Asked on BBC Radio whether the euro was safer than 48 hours ago, Osborne replied: “I think things are better than they were because they are now going to coordinate their budget policies in the kind of way that probably was necessary ... but it is a necessary but not sufficient condition of getting the euro to work more effectively.”
He added: “They’ve got to sort out their current problems, which means finding the resources to stand behind the currency and secondly, crucially, we have got to make the whole of Europe much more competitive so our entire continent including this country is not priced out of the world economy.”
Osborne dismissed suggestions Britain would lose influence within the EU after it blocked changes to the existing joint treaty, saying the government had ensured that all 27 members would discuss issues related to the EU’s role as a trading bloc.
“We have protected Britain’s financial services and manufacturing companies that need to be able to trade their products into Europe from the development of euro zone integration spilling over and affecting non-euro members of the EU,” he said.
“If we had signed this treaty ... then we would have found the full force of the European treaties, the European court, the European Commission, all these institutions enforcing those treaties, using that opportunity to undermine Britain’s interests, undermine the single market. “We were not prepared to let that happen.”
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Comments (2)
Escapism
It is difficult to understand Eurozoners. It is now self evident that the Euro has created a situation where some countries have lost 30% or more competitiveness compared to Germany and that this has created an internal balance of payments crisis as surpluses in the North are not recirculated to deficits in the South. This has nothing to do with markets or Anglo Saxon plots or any other childish stories that avoid this reality. This is happening because the structure of the Euro has made it happen. Europeans were warned by the UK and indeed by many in the Eurozone as well that this would happen. It has. Exactly as predicted.
What will it take for a Euro believer to accept this self evident reality?
The attempt to make the UK pay for the really quite staggering stupidity of Eurozoners is typical. The UK is told we must give up sovereignty and accept vast new taxes on our economy because you did something really stupid against our repeated and sincere advice. For this advice not to destroy yourselves we were cast as Little Englanders and all the other quasi racist insults currently being thrown at the UK for following its own National interest
Now people like eurpach seem to think a suitable response from the failing Eurozone to the UK's decision to do what Europeans all do, look after our own interests, is to attack the UK. There is something very wrong in Eurozone minds. WHat did the Eurozone do for the UK in 2008 when we faced our own crisis born of UK mistakes? None whatsoever. Any request would have been sneered at by the Eurozoners who now demand we pay for your mistakes.
I think it is a very good time to study Heinrich Brüning and "authoritative (or authoritarian) democracy"
European people will say what Cameron said when they are asked. And sooner or later the people must be asked, even in the burning house of the Eurozone and its best case forecast of years of stagnation and worst case future of total catastrophe.
Europeans must start to face the reality and that has nothing to do with the UK and everything to do with the Euro's defective unfit for purpose structure.
If you have a single currency the rich must pay for the poor
It is simply uncivilised to deny this.
UK/EU
UK should leave EU as it has always been a stalking horse for USA interests in the EU. UK needs EU more than EU needs UK; if UK leaves EU charge a 40-50% duty on all UK products etc. and make Frankfurt the place for EU's biggest borse. Tax UK transactions as part of this strategy. I say good riddance to UK.
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