Javierdude22: Ok I gotta be quick about this cause my pc is about to die on me ...oi..
I guess I share the same issues as to why the Brittish, Danes and Swedes backed down on the Euro, while they are still (happily?) part of the EU. I basically wished my country would not have joined the Euro either.
Although I find it admirable from a humanistic point of view to try to form common goals, and unite as suvh a s a people, it is far from realistic to think that can be achieved without a very long sigh. The Brittish, Dutch, and who-ever else have acquired a strong identity through the centuries out of their history, religion, geography, culture, and also through specific events. Why would any of the people that are happy with the society they live in want to change their culture, or why should they try? And who can blame them if they do not want to. Humans always have had a tendency to think in groups of similar people, tribes, religions, or ideologies, and with the firm nationstates that formed in the 19th and 20th centuries, this is something that can't be undone that easily. After the Second WW, governments advocated national pride in order to discredit the many traitors among us. Being Dutch was something to be proud of, as well as your queen, language and currency. This shouldn't be underestimated. Many of the people that experienced the war and it's aftermath now have difficulty understanding why the guilder is gone, and why we are vicariously still controlled by the Germans (and Francs). And that is also understandable I think, or at least something governments cannot underestimate when they force a new identity, currency, and administrative government down the people's throats. Cause most people didn't notice 'Brussels' untill the treaty of Maastricht was signed, so we're actually talking about a little over 10 years.
On top of the fact that most people are really proud of their national identities, there is an economic motive not to jump for joy when Europe is mentioned. For all countries there is the benefit of free transport of people, money, and goods. For a few countries (mostly Spain, Ireland, Portugal and Greece) there was a quite substantiate economic injection from the EU. Many people in the 'richer' countries however wonder where their direct economic benefit is coming from, as they only hear of billion so f dollars of tax paying money flowing to Brussels, and more recently, wages dropping cause of a great iflux of Polish and Hungarian workers who will ask for a lot lower pay than the average Dutchman. And then the Agrarians, and Holland has a strong farmer lobby, who are losing out already and don't need cheap Eastern European products. Now both these motives are quite egotistical, but can you blame those people? Governments, like most pro-Europeans, advertise a unification as a benefit an sich. That of course cannot do when people are in turmoil. If the people cannot be overwon by the arguments and proclaimed benefits in themselves, doesn't that mean that the story has holes in it?
Oh well...there's a lot to say about this I guess. Although I do believe we have to break eggs in order to make an omelette, I personally believe, we should not think lighthearted about this, as we are meddling with very important stuff. Stuff people have gone to war over more than once. We have acquired an identity, law, currency, geographical boundaries, culture and personal benefits we are now asked to let go of in 10 years. Take pace governments of Europe...don't do this overnight.
I guess I share the same issues as to why the Brittish, Danes and Swedes backed down on the Euro, while they are still (happily?) part of the EU. I basically wished my country would not have joined the Euro either.
Although I find it admirable from a humanistic point of view to try to form common goals, and unite as suvh a s a people, it is far from realistic to think that can be achieved without a very long sigh. The Brittish, Dutch, and who-ever else have acquired a strong identity through the centuries out of their history, religion, geography, culture, and also through specific events. Why would any of the people that are happy with the society they live in want to change their culture, or why should they try? And who can blame them if they do not want to. Humans always have had a tendency to think in groups of similar people, tribes, religions, or ideologies, and with the firm nationstates that formed in the 19th and 20th centuries, this is something that can't be undone that easily. After the Second WW, governments advocated national pride in order to discredit the many traitors among us. Being Dutch was something to be proud of, as well as your queen, language and currency. This shouldn't be underestimated. Many of the people that experienced the war and it's aftermath now have difficulty understanding why the guilder is gone, and why we are vicariously still controlled by the Germans (and Francs). And that is also understandable I think, or at least something governments cannot underestimate when they force a new identity, currency, and administrative government down the people's throats. Cause most people didn't notice 'Brussels' untill the treaty of Maastricht was signed, so we're actually talking about a little over 10 years.
On top of the fact that most people are really proud of their national identities, there is an economic motive not to jump for joy when Europe is mentioned. For all countries there is the benefit of free transport of people, money, and goods. For a few countries (mostly Spain, Ireland, Portugal and Greece) there was a quite substantiate economic injection from the EU. Many people in the 'richer' countries however wonder where their direct economic benefit is coming from, as they only hear of billion so f dollars of tax paying money flowing to Brussels, and more recently, wages dropping cause of a great iflux of Polish and Hungarian workers who will ask for a lot lower pay than the average Dutchman. And then the Agrarians, and Holland has a strong farmer lobby, who are losing out already and don't need cheap Eastern European products. Now both these motives are quite egotistical, but can you blame those people? Governments, like most pro-Europeans, advertise a unification as a benefit an sich. That of course cannot do when people are in turmoil. If the people cannot be overwon by the arguments and proclaimed benefits in themselves, doesn't that mean that the story has holes in it?
Oh well...there's a lot to say about this I guess. Although I do believe we have to break eggs in order to make an omelette, I personally believe, we should not think lighthearted about this, as we are meddling with very important stuff. Stuff people have gone to war over more than once. We have acquired an identity, law, currency, geographical boundaries, culture and personal benefits we are now asked to let go of in 10 years. Take pace governments of Europe...don't do this overnight.
