Job Discussion Forums

Sashadroogie · Posted: Mon Jan 02, 2012 12:22 pm Post subject:

Well, comrades, if the sky does fall in, you can always come over to the other union in Europe! Plenty of jobs going here - a reliable currency too. In better shape than the once mighty piggie dollar : )

Just mention me on the immigration application forms, along with the names and addresses of any members of your family who have made any anti-Soviet statements in the past. There are still some places on the trains and some vacancies in Siberia! Should be more next year, as the mines are getting bigger every year!

naturegirl321 · Joined: 04 May 2003 Posts: 9041 Location: home sweet home

I found this about the debt crisis, http://www.mint.com/blog/trends/then-and-now-the-european-debt-crisis-112011/?display=wide

The PIIGS have this debt as a percentage of the GDP
Portugal: 93.3%
Italy: 118.4%
Ireland: 94.9%
Greece: 144.9%
Spain: 61.0%

The US has 100% for 2011

johnslat · Posted: Mon Jan 02, 2012 2:25 pm Post subject:

Dear naturegirl321,

"The US has 100% for 2011"

Wow - a perfect score. I can only assume that Greece and Italy got extra credit (pun intended.)

Regards,
John

sharter · Joined: 25 Jun 2008 Posts: 878 Location: All over the place

I don't think the UK will leave the free trade zone and nor should it. I think we'll see Greece and Portugal leave the Euro. Eventually Spain may then find it unsustainable. Rich Euro club, slow Euro club is a possibility.

Fiscal union is an assault on democracy and sovereignty.
Monetary union ain't stable without fiscal union.
Political union in the federalist way is an ideal.
All attempts to fix currencies fail....just look at the ERM.

I don't think the European Union is dead even if this fails; it will just be a looser club. I don't think we have to worry about passports and visas and work etc. I don't think the UK has to worry about free trade inside the zone.

Whatever happens people will still need to speak English, which is perhaps the only bright news.

riverboat · Joined: 22 May 2009 Posts: 117 Location: Paris, France

This has been on my mind too - I think I read too many doom and gloom articles over the Christmas period. That said I recently gave a lesson to the CFO of a large international company, and "The Future of Europe" was the subject of our lesson, and he put my mind at ease a little by having a more optimistic view of the situation...

So I'm not seriously worried - but I would be if a UK referendum on whether to stay or leave became an serious possibility, because I think in that situation there's a significant chance the great UK public would vote to leave. If this did by some chance ever happen, I guess that my (French) boyfriend and I would have to get married. Yikes.

jonniboy · Posted: Sun Jan 08, 2012 9:51 pm Post subject:

Sashadroogie · Posted: Mon Jan 09, 2012 6:31 am Post subject:

Dear Jonniboy

As you probably know, no British or Irish citizens need to present any documents when travelling to each others' countries, and that this common travel area was long in effect prior to 1922, and was subsequently retained under the terms of the treaty. (When boarding a plane, true, you need photo ID, but this is not the same thing as passport control. You need nothing if you travel by ferry.) Also provided for are right of abode and voting rights etc.

However, as this bilateral Common Travel Area has almost been superseded by provisions made by EU treaties, there has been a lot of discussion about whether the British authorities should retain their private arrangement with the Republic of Ireland. There are now security risks, with Ireland being seen as an easy place for immigrants to enter from outside the EU, and from which they can freely enter the UK without passports being checked. A backdoor into Britain, in essence.

At the moment, while Ireland is not part of the Schengen zone, it is fully part of the EU. Nearly all EU citizens can travel and work freely within all parts of the EU, passport inspections notwithstanding. (As far as I know there are still various extra rules for the newer Eastern European member states which restrict travel and work also.) Schengen visa restrictions pertain to non-EU citizens.

Currently, a Frenchman or German, say, has the right to work in the UK. However, were the UK to pull out of the EU totally, then presumably there would again be some sort of restriction of the right to travel and work in the UK. This would in theory apply to Irish citizens seeking work there also. Hence my supposition that Ireland too would be forced to leave the EU, because it simply cannot afford to have any trade or travel barriers erected between her and Britain. This would also lead to severe complications with Northern Ireland and travel north and south, raising ugly questions about citizenship that have been largely dodged, even back in the bad old days.

A parallel example is the unholy mess that would be created if/when Scotland becomes an independent state. Would it still be part of the EU? If not, would English and Scots need passports and visas etc at the border? A border which would also be an EU frontier a la Greece and Turkey...

Germany is not likely to pull out of the EU any time soon : ) So, that is why I say apply for that passport and forget about any other, messier, options.