It seems to me that the club Med (France, Spain, Italy etc) are determined to (and will) take Germany for every penny they have, and expect the Germans, as a way of messaging their guilt over WW2 to cough it up for them. Now this might have been true a few years ago but now things have changed and there is a growing feeling in the German media and populace that maybe, just maybe enough is enough. And of course there are always rumours about the Germans making preparations for the return of the DM.
But it's not just Germany is it? There's Holland and Finland as well who are becoming increasingly angry at current events. Why just today it is reported that Finland are threatening to leave the Eurozone, also watch out for the results of the upcoming elections in Holland. The results of which could well be the start of the slippery slope towards the break up of the Euro. But ultimately I still believe it will be France that will put that final nail in the coffin of the Euro when they inevitably come begging for a bailout.
But in the meantime the ball is still in Germanys court.
Now onto the referendum question on our membership of the EU. Now there are of course differing opinions on how, when and what the question will be in that referendum (In/Out? Renegotiation of membership terms etc). Now I wholeheartedly support the concept of a referendum and I would personally prefer an In/Out, but I am fearful about the timing of it. Mainly because the fanatical EU supporters also support an In/Out and as soon as possible.
Now for EU sceptics (I don't like the term Eurosceptic as it implies that I and others are against Europe the continent as opposed to an Anti-Democratic elitist body which determines what happens to 500 million peoples lives without them having a say on how things should be run), the question we should be asking ourselves, is why do the EU fanatics support an In/Out referendum.
Because they obviously think they can win it and also as Ireland can testify when they voted on the Lisbon Treaty (twice), the media balance on the debate will be skewed dramatically in favour of the In camp. There are of course a lot of sceptics of the EU on both sides of the media in terms of individual writers but apart from the Daily Express, no other mainstream media outlet is advocation us leaving the EU.
When push comes to shove the likes of the Telegraph, Mail etc will say we are better off inside and of course the BBC are not exactly impartial when it comes to the EU, as witnessed by their coverage of when David Cameron vetoed the Fiscal Compact. They covered the event with a tone of depression like the world had well and truly ended. And I believe they cannot be trusted to present a total 50/50 balance for the yes/no camps. The likes of the report linked below don't help the BBC either in their claim of impartiality concerning the EU.
The debate will boil down to total scare mongering tactics by the In campaign, who will doubtless be funded to the rafters by the EC/EU and the argument from them will be totally negative, ie what would happen to the UK if we left rather then talking about the so called benefits of being inside the EU.
Also what would happen if god forbid we voted to leave the EU? Would the Government stand by that decision knowing full well they will be ordered the EC/EU to hold another vote until we give them the right answer?
Maybe we should therefore just leave the EU without having a referendum.
Ross
Here is a link to a rather interesting blog by @openeurope earlier today.
