Assess The Arguements For And Essay Research

Assess The Arguements For And Essay, Research Paper

Assess the arguments for and against a single European currency

Britain has always been the troublesome partner in the relation with the rest of Europe, whether it is because of the indecisiveness shown in the leaders involved with the Union such as the refusal to enter in the initial stages or because of Margaret Thatcher s reluctance to co-operate if decisions were not in Britain s best interest.

In 1969 Britain finally became a member of the European Economic Community after being vetoed twice by the French leader De Gaulle, as he was unsure of Britain s commitment to the Union. This and the difficulties caused by leaders such as Margaret Thatcher for the rest of the E.E.C. suggests that there may be still some animosity between the leadership especially if Britain keeps on postponing any decisions about the Euro.

Traditionally a nation of Euro sceptics, much of Britain is opposed to joining the single currency and is backed by a reactive Conservative leader and some sections of the party. The recent European election showed clearly the Conservative Party s opposition to Britain becoming too involved with Europe. The hype that the Conservative Leader has set around his campaign in these elections would have stirred public opinion against the Euro, as he continually argued about the loss of national identity. If Tony Blair continues with integrating Britain into the single currency against the majority of the public s wishes, it may be likely that he will lose the next election if the nation continues to be plagued with damning reports about the effects of the Euro.

One of the main problems the Government will have to deal with is to convince the general public of the benefits of the Euro. As we this country seems to have a general sense of Britishness rather than Europeanism it may be difficult to convince them that being European is the way forward. Few people know of the overall benefits and when leaders such as William Hague seem to blatantly dismiss then and base a European election on keeping the pound and our sovereignty in a reactive policy based on public opinion, it makes the task even more difficult.

Another difficultly the leader will have to face in taking Britain into the Euro is to find out what the British public actually want. The low European election turnout of 1999 suggest that people do not think that Europe concerns them.

When Britain does join the Euro the decision would be virtually irrevocable.

The process of converting the tender will cost millions, as many things will need to be changed in order to accommodate it such as the replacement of all tender, new vending machines would have to be made, people would have to be trained to work with a new currency which will cost a large amount of money.

Also, the Euro is a new currency that has not had enough time to establish itself, it may be in Britain s best interest to wait and see how the Euro progresses before taking the risk to join when it could very easily collapse and if we join too rapidly then the country could easily lose millions as it did in the hands of John Major when the ERM collapsed. As this event did huge damage to Major s creditability, the Conservative party lost the support of the majority of the public, as this was probably one of the main reasons for a more united Labour Party s landslide victory, Blair has to be sure that he believes that the Euro will be better for everyone.

Perhaps the most discussed issues against the single currency is the nation s loss of sovereignty and that Britain will become even more subordinate to a supranational body. Some compromises have been suggested such as allowing the Queens head to remain on the tender. However E.U. law can already overturn British law, as the European Court of Human Rights is the final court of appeal for the British public, a position once held by the House of Lords. We have a European Bill of Rights and we have taken on the European Social chapter. Therefore losing sovereignty seems to a weak argument against the Euro as most of our laws are already set by Europe.

As stated before, one of the main agreements against the Euro is the amount of resistance it will receive from the public. Tony Blair has promised a referendum on the euro if he gets in at the next election but if public opinion towards the Euro does not cease and if the Euro sceptic right continues to provide pro-nationalist propaganda then Mr. Blair might be seen to be going against the public s wishes. If he joins without the public s consent it could cost him his position in the next election.

On the other hand if Britain does not join soon then they could suffer from higher interest rates in the future, as the other countries in the Union will align their interest rates with each other, making it more difficult for other countries to make the required specifications to join. Also other members of the single currency would change their tender a long time before Britain would join.

Also all countries have to meet required specifications in order to adopt the Euro, therefore there is less chance of the Euro collapsing if all the countries involved have a stable economic base. Also if Britain joins it would benefit from countries such as Germany s steady interest rate.

Joining the Euro will be