Jump to content

The European Union, National Governments, And The Mob


BansheeOne

Recommended Posts

It's nothing new that some (particularly Eastern) European governments are rather cleptocratic, to the chargrin of Brussels trying to improve good governance, and often at its cost via embezzlement of EU moneys. TankNetter Fritz used to state that his native Bulgaria is essentially run by the mob. Romania has been conspicious for trying to walk back anti-corruption legislation and impeding the independent judiciary under the previous government, though criticism has not been as loud as over Orban's very similar system of cronyism in Hungary - mostly because the latter has tried to hide it domestically under the smokescreen of his loud anti-EU and anti-immigration politics (and possibly because the previous Romanian government was social democratic).

 

In the recent confirmation hearings for the new EU commission, the Polish commissioner candidate also received some scrutiny, and the French one was rejected along with the Hungarian and Romanian by the European Parliament due to conflicts of interests - though political payback played a role there, not least for Emmanuel Macron inteferring with the selection process for the Commission president. Notably, the Belgian candidate sailed through the hearings despite similar accusations to the French one in his past.

 

The two most egregious recent cases however involve Slovakia and Malta, where journalists investigating links between government officials, local big business and the mafia got killed. Which led to the respective governments to fall, or being in the process of it.

 

December 2, 2019 / 7:20 PM / a month ago

Malta PM defends actions as opposition quits parliament
VALLETTA (Reuters) - Prime Minister Joseph Muscat defended on Monday his government’s handling of the murder in 2017 of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia and called for national unity after days of protests over a case that has stunned Malta.

Police on Saturday charged one of the small Mediterranean island’s wealthiest businessmen, Yorgen Fenech, with complicity in the killing. He has denied the accusations and accused members of Muscat’s inner circle of ordering the death.

 

Muscat announced on Sunday he would step down next month, giving his Labour party time to select a new leader.

 

Opposition lawmakers walked out of parliament on Monday in protest at the delayed departure, hurling bundles of fake cash at the government benches as they quit the chamber. Outside the building, hundreds of protesters chanted “Mafia, mafia”.

 

Speaking to a semi-empty house, Muscat appeared relaxed, joking at times as he justified the investigation, which he said was Malta’s biggest ever.

 

“The case showed that Malta’s institutions work and everyone is equal before the law,” he said.

 

Fenech has denied being the mastermind and sought legal immunity in return for revealing information about the murder plot and about alleged corruption involving Muscat’s former chief of staff Keith Schembri and former Tourism Minister Konrad Mizzi, among others, court filings showed.

 

The government has rejected his bid for a pardon.

 

Schembri and Mizzi both resigned last week and have denied wrongdoing. Schembri was questioned for two days by police following his resignation before being released without charge.

 

Both men had been suing Caruana Galizia for libel over allegations she made about their business deals.

 

COURT PETITION

Critics are angry with Muscat for sticking by Schembri, and for including him in security briefings on the investigation even after Fenech was identified as a suspect in the murder and as an associate of Schembri.

 

“Muscat wants to manipulate the police investigation to save himself and his best friend Keith Schembri,” opposition leader Adrian Delia told parliament.

 

“This is unacceptable for the opposition. We are walking out and will not participate in proceedings for as long as Joseph Muscat remains prime minister.”

 

Caruana Galizia’s family said Muscat should have no further involvement in the case and petitioned a court to ensure he was excluded from any further access to the information.

 

“It’s completely intolerable and it’s absolutely disgraceful that he’s trying to hang on to power,” Caruana Galizia’s sister Corrine Vella told Reuters TV.

 

Muscat said he would handle only the “day-to-day” government administration until a new leader was chosen.

 

“We now need unity. Part of that is shouldering responsibility, not just for one’s own actions but also ... for possible shortcomings,” he said.

 

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-malta-daphne/malta-pm-defends-actions-as-opposition-quits-parliament-idUSKBN1Y6238

 

4 on trial over killings of Slovak journalist and fiancee

By KAREL JANICEK December 19, 2019

PEZINOK, Slovakia (AP) — Four people went on trial in Slovakia on Thursday over the alleged contract killing of an investigative journalist and his fiancee, a crime that shocked the country and led a government to fall.

The suspects appearing in court in a town near the capital of Bratislava include a Slovak businessman accused of masterminding the double slaying and the alleged hired assassin.

A fifth suspect made an agreement to cooperate with prosecutors in exchange for a lower sentence. The deal has to be approved by a judge, and the other suspects said Thursday they weren’t interested in striking similar deals.

The suspects were escorted to the court by heavily armed guards. If convicted of last year’s killings of Jan Kuciak and Martina Kusnirova, they face potential prison sentences of 25 years or life.

Kuciak and Kusnirova were killed in their home on Feb. 21, 2018. Slovak authorities said they believed the killings were linked to Kuciak’s work investigating possible widespread government corruption and ties between Slovak politicians and Italian mobsters.

The 27-year-old reporter was shot in the chest and Kusnirova was shot in the head in the town of Velka Maca, east of Bratislava.

[...]

The killings prompted major street protests unseen since the 1989 anti-communist Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia. The ensuing political crisis led to the collapse of a coalition government headed by populist Robert Fico, and the dismissal of the national police chief.

Prosecutors claim a total sum of 70,000 euros ($77,800) was paid for the alleged contract slayings. The suspected mastermind, Marian Kocner, is a businessman who had allegedly threatened the journalist following publication of a story about him.

He also allegedly hired Slovak former intelligence officials to carry out surveillance on Kuciak before his killing.

Kuciak had filed a complaint with police in 2017 over the alleged threats. He claimed that police failed to act then. After the slayings, police renewed their investigation of the threats.

Slovak authorities said the FBI, Britain’s Scotland Yard, Europol, Eurojust and police forces from Italy and the Czech Republic helped with the investigation.

The journalist had been writing about alleged ties between the Italian mafia and people close to Fico when he was killed. The reporter also wrote about corruption scandals linked to the former prime minister’s leftist Smer Social Democracy party.

During the investigation, Slovak media claimed that the suspected mastermind, Kocner, had created a wide network of contacts with politicians, judges and prosecutors who allegedly helped him with his business dealings.

Slovak authorities haven’t commented on the leaked documents, but their publication resulted in several resignations of judges, the deputy parliamentary speaker and a senior justice ministry official.

Dobroslav Trnka, the country’s former prosecutor-general, was charged by police on Wednesday with abuse of power for his alleged cooperation with Kocner when he held his post.

Kocner is also on trial in a separate case over alleged forgery and securities crime.

Earlier this month, the U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions on Kocner and six of his businesses for threatening Kuciak.

 

https://apnews.com/cda51e6bc8815ea988bc90c6bc93c286

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 104
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Date 30.12.2019

 

Slovakia: First jail sentence handed down in journalist murder case

 

A Slovak court has given a 15-year jail sentence to a man over his role in the murder of journalist Jan Kuciak. Five were charged in the case but four have yet to be sentenced.

 

A 42-year-old man received a 15-year jail sentence in a plea deal on Monday for facilitating the murder of Slovak investigative journalist Jan Kusiak in 2018, a court spokeswoman said.

 

It was the first sentence so far handed down in the trial over the fatal shooting of Kuciak and his fiancee Martin Kusnirova, both aged 27, at their home near Bratislava. The case triggered mass protests over corruption in Slovakia, and Prime Minister Robert Fico was forced to resign.

 

The sentenced man, Zoltan Andrusko, would have faced life imprisonment if he had not confessed and acted as a witness. His 15-year-sentence is longer than the 10 years he had agreed with prosecutors, as the court felt a longer prison term better served the cause of justice to all involved. Andrusko accepted the decision, the court said.

 

Judicial independence under scrutiny

 

Four other people are on trial over the killings, including a businessman whom Kuciak was investigating in the course of his work over connections between organized crime and politics in Slovakia. All of them have entered pleas of not guilty and face possible life sentences if convicted.

 

The case puts judicial independence in Slovakia to the test, with investigations bringing to light links between the businessman, Marian K., and police and public officials. Prosecutors have accused K. of ordering the killing.

 

The main trial against the four remaining defendants is scheduled for early January.

 

https://www.dw.com/en/slovakia-first-jail-sentence-handed-down-in-journalist-murder-case/a-51836871

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Malta: Robert Abela elected new PM after crisis over journalist's murder

4 hours ago

Malta's governing party has elected a new leader and prime minister to replace Joseph Muscat, who resigned over the murder of a journalist.

 

Robert Abela won the Labour Party leadership contest with 57.9% of the vote, reports say.

 

His predecessor Mr Muscat said he would quit last month over the scandal surrounding the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia.

 

She was killed by a car bomb in 2017 as she investigated corruption in Malta.

 

Mr Muscat's handling of the murder inquiry caused widespread anger. He was accused of protecting allies implicated in the investigation, which he denies.

 

His replacement - the son of Malta's former President George Abela - will be sworn in on Monday.

 

Early counts suggest Mr Abela beat his closest rival Chris Fearne, a 56-year-old surgeon, by more than 2,500 votes.

 

Around 17,500 Labour Party members were expected to cast their ballots in the leadership contest.

 

In his victory speech, Mr Abela, a 42-year-old lawyer, called on his party to "work together for unity", Malta Today reported.

 

Seen as a continuity candidate, Mr Abela avoided criticising Mr Muscat or his handling of the inquiry into Caruana Galizia's death during the campaign.

 

[...]

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-51080574

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

t's nothing new that some (particularly Eastern) European governments are rather cleptocratic, to the chargrin of Brussels trying to improve good governance, and often at its cost via embezzlement of EU moneys.

 

Nah, Tante Angi just give her blessing to Orban just before the elections, telling that Hungary spent the euromonies well. For illustration, please look at this lookout tower, your taxpayer money at work (360 degree video):

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

"...is essentially run by the mob."

 

So they rob the money from honest hard working taxpayers and use it for their own good? Well, that could never happen here. We have a tax rate of over 50% because of all the necessary, useful and beneficial things that need to be done and not at all because votes are bought and cronies* are paid.

 

*Cleverly disguised as honorable institutions of the civil society doing good for goodness's sake.

 

 

PS: Furthermore the EU itself is quite well acquainted with waste and corruption within its system.

 

Pot, kettle, black!

Edited by Markus Becker
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not unless Brexit is because the UK seeks to replace EU money influx with Chinese and Russian one because it comes with less supervision of use attached, like Hungary is trying to do. ;)

 

JANUARY 13, 2020 / 11:43 AM / UPDATED 15 HOURS AGO

 

Ex-soldier admits contract killing of Slovak journalist

 

Jiri Skacel

 

PEZINOK, Slovakia (Reuters) - A former soldier admitted in court on Monday killing a Slovakian journalist whose murder two years ago led to anti-corruption protests that brought down the government of long-time prime minister Robert Fico.

 

Miroslav Marcek told a court he was hired to kill 27-year-old Jan Kuciak, who he shot along with Kuciaks fiancée Martina Kusnirova at their house outside Slovakia's capital Bratislava in February 2018.

 

Five people, including a prominent businessman who the investigation into the murder showed had links with security officials as well as judicial and political figures, have been charged in relation to the couple's deaths.

 

The case is seen as a test of Slovakia's judicial and political system ahead of an election in February.

 

Four suspects were in court on Monday in Pezinok, north of Bratislava, including Marcek's cousin Tomas Szabo, who Marcek said had approached him with an offer from another of the defendants to undertake the contract killing.

 

A Reuters reporter said they were led into the courtroom by guards wearing balaclavas and carrying automatic rifles.

 

Marcek, 37, told the court how an initial plan to kidnap Kuciak and then kill him was abandoned because it was too complicated.

 

Describing the killings, he said he hid outside the house before the victims came home on Feb. 21 then waited for an opportunity to strike.

 

That came when Ms Kusnirova went to the toilet. "I hit him (Kuciak) in the chest" , news website http://www.sme.sk quoted Marcek as saying.

 

He said he had killed Kusnirova so that she could not identify him. "He (Kuciak) was falling backwards, he held on to the door with one hand, and she came. It was not possible to just leave", Marcek said.

 

He told the court he was sorry for his actions and that he had decided to confess after seeing the victims families on television.

 

A fifth suspect, Zoltan Andrusko, admitted to facilitating the murder and was sentenced to 15 years in prison last month.

 

Also in court on Monday was businessman Marian Kocner, who is accused of ordering the hit. He denied that charge, but admitted a lesser offence related to illegal ammunition found by police at his house.

 

A third defendant, Alena Zsuzsova, denied charges of being an intermediary in the killings.

 

Szabo, a former police officer, pleaded not guilty to murder. Slovak media reported that Szabo said he had been approached by Andrusko about beating up Kuciak, but not killing him.

 

Kuciaks investigative journalism had delved into cases of fraud involving businessmen with political connections.

 

He had reported on Kocner's business activities, including the takeover of a television station and property deals.

 

[...]

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-slovakia-crime/former-soldier-admits-in-court-to-killing-slovak-journalist-idUSKBN1ZC0XF

Edited by BansheeOne
Link to comment
Share on other sites

In fairness to Orban, whilst he clearly loves to waste EU money, at least he seems to be doing it in a way im particularly enthusiastic about....

https://bbj.hu/politics/orban-to-spend-billions-of-public-money-on-home-railway_168292

 

The Vál Valley Light Railway, a 6-kilometer vintage railway line passing through Prime Minister Viktor Orbánʼs hometown of Felcsút, is set to be extended at a cost of billions of forints, despite low passenger numbers and questions about the misuse of EU funds for the initial stage of the project, news site hvg.hu reports.

The railway would be extended to the nearby town of Bicske within the framework of a countrywide HUF 12.28 billion narrow-gauge railway project over the next two years, according to the portalʼs information.

The plans also include a "mountain railway" in Salgótarján (a town in northern Hungary known for its once blooming mining industry) in order to let tourists "get the mining experience." The plans for the developments claim that traveling on such vintage railways is a "beloved, active relaxation of families" and that there are some 1.5 million passengers using the railway.

In 2015, when heavy criticism was levied on Orbán for building grandiose projects in his hometown of less than 2,000 people, including a football stadium and the vintage railway, he countered that "if they attack the vintage railway, it has to be extended to Bicske, and if they keep on attacking it, then to Lovasberény."

 

:D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Date 17.01.2020

 

Malta police chief quits amid criticism over murdered journalist case

 

Malta's police chief has resigned following criticism of his handling of the 2017 murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia. New Prime Minister Robert Abela has vowed to improve the rule of law in Malta.

 

Malta's police chief resigned on Friday following ongoing criticism of his handling of the 2017 murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia, a journalist who investigated corruption.

 

The country's new prime minister, Robert Abela, announced Lawrence Cutajar's resignation on Friday, four days after taking office with a pledge to improve the rule of law on the island nation.

 

"In his resignation letter, Mr Cutajar wrote that the appointment of a new prime minister demanded change so that necessary reforms to the [police] force could start taking place," Abela said in a press conference.

 

[...]

 

Abela has shaken the political landscape in his few days in office, in an attempt to distance himself from the scandals attached to his predecessor.

 

With a Cabinet reshuffle earlier this week, he hoped to give Malta's ruling Labour party a new lease of life. However, the attorney general, Peter Grech, has remained in his role despite widespread calls for his resignation.

 

What does Cutajar's resignation mean?

 

Ex-police chief Cutajar received criticism from international bodies for his reluctance to investigate allegations of financial crime relating to the top aide of former Prime Minister Muscat.

 

In January 2018, a delegation of EU lawmakers noted a "lack of police action, despite the very serious evidence of maladministration involving even members of the Maltese government."

 

Activists hope that Cutajar's resignation will lead to a more open investigation into Caruana Galizia's murder and better police scrutiny of senior figures.

 

Abela will appoint the new police commissioner next week. The prime minister's role has been criticized as too powerful, as they directly appoint police chiefs and judges.

 

[...]

 

https://www.dw.com/en/malta-police-chief-quits-amid-criticism-over-murdered-journalist-case/a-52043891

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The East European countries (incl Greece) were enthusiastically invited to the EU and I really don't see any of the current problems as surprising at all. Did the eurocrats really expect the European nations, with millenniums of individual history, to just blend in as colourless standard Europeans dancing to any tone the Eurocrats may play on their whistles?!

 

EU, or whatever you may call the next try to create an Empire, will never be more than the nations behind it can and will carry. If limiting EU/the Empire to whatever relatively uniform nations could unite on it actually could be quite strong, but instead you have expanded the whole package to nations not possible and not willing to unite in any foreseeable future and just to complete the blunder, has combined this with a systematic erosion of the basis of EU - the nations!

 

I still feel almost as much a European as a Dane, and used to be an enthusiastic supporter of EEC/EU, but now I have lost all illusions - I sincerely hope we ASAP can make a DEXIT and follow the Britons. And I don't give a damn who will buy our exports, that is just a challenge to be met sooner or later. The current economic system of transporting junk across Europe in trucks driven by underpaid Bulgarian truckdrivers will have to stop anyway as will shipping junk halfway around the globe just to consume/waste it.

 

If the old core countries of EU will carry on in their old dream of "free trade solves anything as long as it is inside EU" go on, I will opt for jumping off.

 

But if we could start all over again with an Union focusing on what Unions do best - dealing with external challenges - I would gladly join. Just tell what it costs to build ten supercarriers and an army for permanently beating the shit out of anybody needing it - but leave it to the nations to manage their daily lives. And I'll gladly pay three times for the next gadget produced in my hometown and repaired in the neighbouring town.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The East European countries (incl Greece) were enthusiastically invited to the EU and I really don't see any of the current problems as surprising at all. Did the eurocrats really expect the European nations, with millenniums of individual history, to just blend in as colourless standard Europeans dancing to any tone the Eurocrats may play on their whistles?!

 

Hasn't that been the way of politicians and leaders for millennia? Their way is the best way, its so obvious it doesn't need to be sold to the populi, and anyone opposing it is either evil or stupid.

 

Though in the US, a common thing now is for the politician to express disappointment in the voters, a rather narcissistic mindset.

 

 

EU, or whatever you may call the next try to create an Empire, will never be more than the nations behind it can and will carry. If limiting EU/the Empire to whatever relatively uniform nations could unite on it actually could be quite strong, but instead you have expanded the whole package to nations not possible and not willing to unite in any foreseeable future and just to complete the blunder, has combined this with a systematic erosion of the basis of EU - the nations!

Plans which don't integrate human nature tend to not work so good.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The East European countries (incl Greece) were enthusiastically invited to the EU and I really don't see any of the current problems as surprising at all. Did the eurocrats really expect the European nations, with millenniums of individual history, to just blend in as colourless standard Europeans dancing to any tone the Eurocrats may play on their whistles?!

Yes.

 

But really, it's not just the Eastern European cleptocracies. A veteran Finnish MEP described recently how different Brussels is nowadays compared to 20 years ago. "Back then, we were co-operating eagerly and in high spirits, figuring we were doing history building united Europe. Now, goal is to squeeze every bit of short-sighted advantage for your own nation."

Recently Finland was EU council president, and launched a motion that would have forced EU's internal tax havens to be more transparent. Motion was defeated, mostly thanks to our enemies, the Swedes. Apparently there are way too many big Swedish companies which benefit from the murky taxation scenes, even though it costs EU billions upon billions.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Given the influence of organized crime on some European governments, one wonders how others protected themselves from or otherwise weaned themselves off of it.

 

If social and economic development goals are met, is there any reason why in 30 years, Romania could not be the next Denmark?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I wish I could find an English source for a recent report that the EU apparently has a trade surplus with itself to the tune of 300 billion Euro in 2018 alone due to endemic VAT fraud, which accounts for 86 percent of the global difference. Seems businesses like to declare sales as VAT-exempt exports, which of course don't show up as imports in the supposed receiving country to be taxed there. That's a particular function of the Single Market across 28 distinct nations; the problem is biggest for members with only sporadic checks like the UK, so Brexit will likely reduce the scale. However, the problem exists since the establishment of the Single Market in 1993, increased considerably with the extension to Eastern Europe, and accumulated to 2.9 trillion Euro in the last twelve years.

 

Meanwhile, per Transparency International's 2019 Corruption Perception Index, Northwest European countries make up most of the top ten least corrupt ones (along with New Zealand and Singapore), with the rest of them and Estonia in the top 20, like Canada and Australia. The Southwest and Lithuania are more in the league of the US or Japan in the 20-30s. Italy, Poland, the Czech Republik, Slovakia, Latvia, Malta and Cyprus in the 40-50s, like Saudia Arabia, Oman or Malaysia. Greece, Hungary, Croatia, Romania and Bulgaria in the 60-70s, rather like Belarus, South Africa or Argentina. That's quite a range for a single political and economic entity.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I wish I could find an English source for a recent report that the EU apparently has a trade surplus with itself to the tune of 300 billion Euro in 2018 alone due to endemic VAT fraud, which accounts for 86 percent of the global difference. Seems businesses like to declare sales as VAT-exempt exports, which of course don't show up as imports in the supposed receiving country to be taxed there. That's a particular function of the Single Market across 28 distinct nations; the problem is biggest for members with only sporadic checks like the UK, so Brexit will likely reduce the scale. However, the problem exists since the establishment of the Single Market in 1993, increased considerably with the extension to Eastern Europe, and accumulated to 2.9 trillion Euro in the last twelve years.

 

Meanwhile, per Transparency International's 2019 Corruption Perception Index, Northwest European countries make up most of the top ten least corrupt ones (along with New Zealand and Singapore), with the rest of them and Estonia in the top 20, like Canada and Australia. The Southwest and Lithuania are more in the league of the US or Japan in the 20-30s. Italy, Poland, the Czech Republik, Slovakia, Latvia, Malta and Cyprus in the 40-50s, like Saudia Arabia, Oman or Malaysia. Greece, Hungary, Croatia, Romania and Bulgaria in the 60-70s, rather like Belarus, South Africa or Argentina. That's quite a range for a single political and economic entity.

 

VAT fraud (which is not that common) and engineering (which is where the hemorrage is) are caused by the EU VAT rules themselves and the inability and unwillingness of member to harmonise taxes. Those that have given up their tax havens have only done so under great duress.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's the Perception part of that index that bothers me. Countries can appear cleaner or worse, depending on whether the press is highly sensitive or puts a lid on stories. Then again, I have no better alternative to offer that would hold up to rigid social science, if there was such a thing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

​

​

 

​

 

The East European countries (incl Greece) were enthusiastically invited to the EU and I really don't see any of the current problems as surprising at all. Did the eurocrats really expect the European nations, with millenniums of individual history, to just blend in as colourless standard Europeans dancing to any tone the Eurocrats may play on their whistles?!


Yes.

But really, it's not just the Eastern European cleptocracies. A veteran Finnish MEP described recently how different Brussels is nowadays compared to 20 years ago. "Back then, we were co-operating eagerly and in high spirits, figuring we were doing history building united Europe. Now, goal is to squeeze every bit of short-sighted advantage for your own nation."

 


Uk, France and Germany are the leaders I think in squeezing all the others. Especially Germany being the self-proclaimed export champion in the world.

 

Recently Finland was EU council president, and launched a motion that would have forced EU's internal tax havens to be more transparent. Motion was defeated, mostly thanks to our enemies, the Swedes. Apparently there are way too many big Swedish companies which benefit from the murky taxation scenes, even though it costs EU billions upon billions.


IKEA is one of the prime examples of creative tax accounting and moving the profits around until no taxes are paid. But I am sure Germoney has also worked against more transparency. Germany actually being a tax haven as well, when you want to put up with the much too complicated tax laws in Germany and use every loophole. (there is more tax literature, laws regulations etc published in Germany annually than the rest of the world combined)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The East European countries (incl Greece) were enthusiastically invited to the EU and I really don't see any of the current problems as surprising at all. Did the eurocrats really expect the European nations, with millenniums of individual history, to just blend in as colourless standard Europeans dancing to any tone the Eurocrats may play on their whistles?!

 

EU, or whatever you may call the next try to create an Empire, will never be more than the nations behind it can and will carry. If limiting EU/the Empire to whatever relatively uniform nations could unite on it actually could be quite strong, but instead you have expanded the whole package to nations not possible and not willing to unite in any foreseeable future and just to complete the blunder, has combined this with a systematic erosion of the basis of EU - the nations!

 

I still feel almost as much a European as a Dane, and used to be an enthusiastic supporter of EEC/EU, but now I have lost all illusions - I sincerely hope we ASAP can make a DEXIT and follow the Britons. And I don't give a damn who will buy our exports, that is just a challenge to be met sooner or later. The current economic system of transporting junk across Europe in trucks driven by underpaid Bulgarian truckdrivers will have to stop anyway as will shipping junk halfway around the globe just to consume/waste it.

 

If the old core countries of EU will carry on in their old dream of "free trade solves anything as long as it is inside EU" go on, I will opt for jumping off.

 

But if we could start all over again with an Union focusing on what Unions do best - dealing with external challenges - I would gladly join. Just tell what it costs to build ten supercarriers and an army for permanently beating the shit out of anybody needing it - but leave it to the nations to manage their daily lives. And I'll gladly pay three times for the next gadget produced in my hometown and repaired in the neighbouring town.

The wall Denmark first will hit after DEXIT will be that your money will be too strong, hindering your export on the China-pressed prices dominated markets. Part of the German Export Miracle is that the EUR can't be too strong due to the Lower Countries.

 

Want to see a successful example of a country run on high added crime? See the USA.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The wall Denmark first will hit after DEXIT will be that your money will be too strong, hindering your export on the China-pressed prices dominated markets. Part of the German Export Miracle is that the EUR can't be too strong due to the Lower Countries.

What about Sweden then? :)

 

Problem with EU is that it is built bass-ackwards compared to USA. United States had the constitution first and then states could join if they felt like abiding to common rules for all. With EU they will try to expand first by offering 'Union Lite' and then attempt to make it more integrated by proposing 'New Union' for existing members. What goes wrong here is that many nations which were happy to join 'Union Lite' or were content under 'Union Classic' don't want to hear anything about 'New Union'. This creates a many-tiered union where countries have different 'membership levels' and it's impossible to effectively synchronize anything.

 

Of course, Finnish politicians solved this simply by lying to the people, and once they had eagerly voted 'Kyllä', informed them that "Oh, by the way, now you also accepted X, Y and Z, sorry, no take-backs."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If outside EU you at least have the opportunity to devaluate your currency. Everyone knows that just doing that is like pissing your pants in frosty weather but it also is a valid question if the worshipping of a stable currency policy at some times can be paid for to costly.

 

Anyway the costs of a possible DEXIT will not so much be in the exchange rate of the Danish Crown (DKK), that can be fixed, but that Denmark to an extreme degree relies on international trade and most of it with other EU countries (mainly Germany and Sweden). And on top of that a frightfully large part of the goods shipped around the globe are done so on Danish owned ships.

 

A few decades ago GB was the main trade partner (bacon and butter) and who knows who it will be in 20 years. Even if EU has some years of fortune and good growth I can only imagine that the markets outside EU will be relatively much larger.

 

My main point or hope would not be new markets however but a challenge to the global economic system where underpaid labour produce junk in one part of the world only to ship it half way around the globe to be consumed and thrown away in our part of the world (where hardly anyone has a regular job of producing something). That simply isn't sustainable and we will have to take the consequence - even if Denmark will be one of those countries needing the biggest change - we have done it before!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now

×
×
  • Create New...