The euro will survive and Britain will join, says Michael Heseltine Good to hear that, despite political persuasion, there are still fair-minded Britons!
Michael Heseltine is a very bright guy and if he had been a smarter tactician there is no knowing what political heights he could have attained . But I am absolutely sure that these reported comments are not what he said . Simply because they are so simplistic and essentially ignorant . Not criticisms you would ever level at him , however divergent your political views . The Euro in its present form is dead and almost buried . Nothing can save it . At some point EU members will have to figure out a way of usefully maintaining a block core identity that also -- in its simplest form -- recognises acute differences between Mediterranean Country requirements and capabilities compared to" Northern " countries , possibly led by Germany , the UK and France . To that extent , the UK could be in a reworked Euro Zone in a decade from now . But a Eurozone that is virtually unrecognisable from today's mess that is no longer fit for purpose .
The report is almost verbatim. I weigh his estimation of the situation higher than your opinion. From 16mins on. http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0176nn4/The_Politics_Show_South_20_11_2011/
MH said exactly as indicated by me . Look at what he did not say as well as what he did !!!!!! Even if we took your interpretation literally and agreements could be found between the different countries ( 3-7 years? ) , how long do you believe it would take to be passed by respective parliaments , by all EU members and from an admin perspective ( another 3-7 years) . Think it through before charging in to Noddy Land .
Michael Heseltine is a has-been who lives in a fantasy world and is out of touch with the public mood. The British people didn't want to join the euro before the eurozone crisis. The chances of them voting for it now are non-existent, and thanks to Sir James Goldsmith, who forced the Tories of Michael Heseltine's day to commit to a referendum, we do have a vote on it. Those who oppose joining the euro are perfectly fair minded and sensible, unlike those who would have had us join years ago. Just look at what our deputy prime minister said in 2002: "The euro has done more to enforce budgetary discipline in the rest of Europe than any number of exhortations from the IMF or the OECD. If we remain outside the euro, we will simply continue to subside into a position of relative poverty and inefficiency compared to our more prosperous European neighbours "The euro, despite the foolish assumption of many commentators that it should be judged according to its external level with the dollar, has already provided great internal stability to the eurozone." Who's the fool now? The fact that this man is now our deputy pm is enough to make any sane person shudder!
