Let`s remember. What is now the EU, started life with 6 countries as the Common Market. It was formed by countries we and our allies either beat or liberated during the second world war. General De Gaulle did not, under any circumstances, want the UK to join. That is even though we allowed the French government in exile to relocate to Britain for the duration.
I wouldn't argue with any of that. I suppose my fear is that it might be out of the frying pan... I think we never really entered into the spirit of the thing, always seeming reluctant. Had it been different, we might have had more influence, who knows I for one don't share the optimism felt by other contributors, but that doesn't mean I have a wish that it all goes pear-shaped.
That's true, Freddy, but I think that was due to hostility and suspicion on either side. France at the time was not exactly friendly towards the UK [I think they still remembered the 100 Year War]. The fact that we declined to accept the Euro as our national currency made us an outsider from the start and therefore regarded as not fully supportive of the EU. I still think declining to have the Euro as our currency was a very shrewd move and one that has proved to be the right one. I doubt very much if we would ever have been accepted as being in the same "club" as Germany and France due to the political circumstances of that time.
But that's where History has shown that we've always been, jumping out of the Frying Pan into the Fire.......and back again. The future, I'm sure, will treat us no differently but, hopefully, History will show the decision was the right one.
Am I right in thinking that some years ago we were trying to get in line to join the Euro Seem to remember something called the ERM, and by getting involved it pushed interest rates up to 15%. I might have the wrong end of the stick, but I'm glad we declined to join the Euro for whatever reason.
I'm pretty sure we flatly refused. I'm less sure, but think it was Johnny Major that refused, while the emerging 'new labour' under Tony Bliar was more open to it. But as I say, I'm less sure on that point.
Got a feeling it was Gordon Brown who kept us out of the Euro. Teflon Tony would have had us in it from day one if he had the chance.
We never really were interested in being in the Euro but Major did bring us into the ERM (Exchange Rate Mechanism). The ERM was started in the late seventies when a lot of European countries still had their own currencies. In 1990 Major made the decision to join the ERM and the French, and especially Germany, did nothing to help us get things right (a matter of the state buying or selling its own currency). Interest rates had to rise to try and correct the problem but speculators started taking advantage of the interest rates and were buying at the lower rate and selling again as it kept rising. That's when George Soros said he made over a billion by selling (when he didn't have the money to sell). A rather complicated financial type of transaction. We continued to struggle for a couple of years with our interest rate finally reaching 15%. It didn't help and we had to pull out of the ERM - called Black Wednesday. One of the main problems was we didn't have sufficient foreign currency to help prop up the pound - which should never have happened!
I never said it did, Freddy. What History will show is whether or not BREXIT was the right decision on not. But sometimes historic decisions do come back to bite us on the bum even though it wasn't us that made that decision. I always get an increase in blood pressure and a desire to strangle someone when you hear some one saying "sincerely" "We will learn from our mistakes" after something has happened time and again.
I'm not really sure what that has to do with anything. The problem (in my eyes) is that our national psyche is more one of colonisation than one of joining and sharing. I'm afraid that I'm with you on this.
