We can’t work without one single government, which would be in charge of all fifteen European Union countries, and so the UK wouldn’t be as powerful as we are now. As one French minister said “the longer we wait the stronger the rules will be and we will have no say unless we join”. But another minister also said that although there are problems at the moment, we have nothing to lose by waiting.
Although there has been a lack of European conflict since the EU began, the UK could still be in the EU and not have conflict without the euro. At the moment we have a harmful exchange rate system and so we would be able to save money at the bureaux de change, as there would be no more charges to pay on our currency to convert it. For example, if we had £100 changed fifteen times we would end up with approximately £17 after all the charges had implicated. We must have the same interest rate as other countries, but, if we keep it, it may not be suitable for other economies.
If you were in any European country that uses the euro you would be able to see how much you are paying for any goods, so therefore the euro is price transparent. But, we don’t always know if the price we are paying for goods is reasonable or expensive. For example, the price of a Big Mac in Helsinki is 4½ euros whereas in Athens it is only 2 euros. So does this mean there is a big difference between the prices or does it mean there is only a few pence difference?
We are losing our share of new investment because we’re not in Europe and companies aren’t setting up business in the UK. Also our companies in the UK can’t access other European businesses, as they don’t want to pay for our distribution costs. This means that there is no investment and therefore this hinders our economical growth. For example, countries that use the euro have lo-cost airlines so there is increased competition within the airline companies and so there is more pressure on them to please customers. This is also price transparent. Also the UK can’t compete in Europe, for example they can’t enter fashion shows or other big advertising schemes. Consumers in the UK pay 16% higher for our goods but we don’t know how much our goods will be sold for abroad and no consumers will want to buy them, as they will have to pay more than average to cover the exchange rate charge. This means that again we are losing out on business and money in this type of trading. But there is a big difference as our investment is more than what France and Germany make put together, even though they’re in the euro, therefore we make more money than our rivals.
The European Union growth is slow whereas the UK’s is fast, so people argue that we shouldn’t join, as we will slow our countries economic growth down and that wouldn’t be fair or right to do this to the residents of the UK. Also inflation in the EU is twice what it was, so another argument is why should we put our prices up? Another benefit of not joining the euro is that unemployment rates in Europe have shot up to more than 60% higher than the UK since the euro began due to economical factors such as less tourism from non-EU countries.
All the pros in joining the euro can be obtained just by being in the EU therefore the UK doesn’t need to join the European Monetary Union.
My personal opinion on this issue is that I think there are more cons than pros and I don’t think the UK should join the euro. Also I don’t think that there has been much information publicised about the euro and it has been kept really hush-hush, so people are not aware of all the pros and cons associated with it. My thoughts are that, if joining the euro was really that beneficial we would have joined it a long time ago and not dithered over the decision.
