Isnt it about time the UK joined the Euro?

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I am British myself and to be honest am ashamed to be. I would much rather be know as European.

Of course it's time we joined the Euro, Malta and Cyprus just have.

We've done the decimilisation bit so it wouldn't be difficult.

One of the reasons the two countries mentioned have joined, is because the Euro is such a strong currency.

I lived in Germany for three years while in the RAF and travelled extensively, and while our country is rightly respected for many reasons, the Europeans laugh at our insular, old fashion ideas.

Yes i agree it would be much better and the banks would have to stop ripping us off with the exchange rate every time we travel to the tune of billions per year.

No - I'm proud to be British and apart from continental Europe. We've had the pound as our currency for a long time and I don't see why we should let the E.U. change that. The word 'pound' just says 'British' to me.

So when has the Euro been so wonderful? The other countries economies went to the wall when they joined, whilst the Â£ stayed strong. Why should the people who don't want to go to Euro countries have to convert for the sake of those who do? Anyone who remembers the debacle after decimalisation in 1971 won't want another change.
And no, I don't want, and I refuse, to be European.

Nothing to be ashamed of about wanting to be a European.

However, there is an awful lot of difference between supporting peace and free trade in Europe, and wanting the UK economy to be governed by the European Central Bank.

Many people are against the Euro for reasons that have little to do with economic sense, and everything to do with jingoistic pride.

However, many well-educated people are against the Euro for several good reasons:

1: In other countries (for example, Spain), the local currency -> Euro transition was done in a way that immediately devalued everyone's savings, by pegging the conversion rate at an artificial rate that made sense for the government's policies, but left everyone able to afford less food each month.

2i: Taking up the Euro isn't about having easy bank notes - it's about having interest rate policy set by the European Central Bank rather than the Bank of England. The Eurozone is now a huge place, and one set of interest rates to tweak that will impact all economies positively is hard. What might be good for German industrial output might be awful for Greek farmers - which way should Eurozone interest rates be moved? With a basket of currencies that slide against each other, it was possible for the German government to move rates up and the Greek government down (and let the rates move against the Drachma) if that was what was best for both countries.

2ii: Compared to the rest of "original Europe" (Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Netherlands and the Benelux countries), the UK has an economy far more dominated by commodity pricing, because of the huge North Sea oil revenues. That means that the UK economy has regularly swung in a different direction to the rest of Europe... having one set of interest rates to govern both makes the problem worse.

2iii: As per oil, so likewise for "financial services". An awful lot of the "UK economy" is actually the percentage that the UK stock and commodity markets make on transactions all over the world, that just happen to happen legally in London. Having a little money trickle into the UK when a Zimbabwan farmer sells products to a Thai national working in Dubai because we have a stable platform to cut that kind of deal generates an awful lot of cash for the UK. By comparison, only really Germany has anything similar in scale... another reason why the UK and Eurozone economies swing wildly.

3: In the UK, the press comment about the Euro has been far more about the ECONOMIC impact than in the rest of Europe. When you have, say, a French politician saying "You must vote for the Euro because it means we'll never go to war with Germany again", you have to ask whether this is REALLY about economic policy, or just about spin. [1]

What it really boils down to is a question of how should interest rates be set... Bear in mind that changing rates affects everyone's mortgages (or rent, because increased costs get passed on)... and affect employment rates... and prices ... and so on. Should this be done on a country-by-country basis, or should it be done to try to manage the continent as a single entity.

The "non-Euro" group believe that there are real advantages, which massively outweigh the benefits of not needing to change cash at Gatwick, to keeping UK control of interest rates.

[As an aside, if Scotland were to go independent, my personal view would be that it should have its own currency that freely floated against the English pound and the Euro... but that would be a question for the Scottish people to decide.]

[1] No two countries which both have more than 20 MacDonalds in each have ever been at open war with each other since they opened. This isn't particularly because the food is peaceful :-) But because countries with economies open to cross-border trading tend to so interconnected that it tends to be more sensible to make peace than grab land.

I'm quite open to the Euro.

There is no loss of identity. British Euro coins would still have the Queens head on them.

Germany was no less attached to the Mark pre Euro as was Spain to it's peseta, Italy the Lira and so on but they could see the advantages.

Has the Euro eroded other nations identity so much that you now get mixed up between or don't know the difference between Germans and Italians or the Polish from the Greek? No of course not! If all it takes for you to lose your national identy, is a change in the name and apearance of your money I'd say you haven't got a particularly strong grip on it in the first place.

How dare you.We've sold out too much already to that 'european' ideal. Keep the Pound Sterling-best and strongest currency in the world.

no and get ripped off again like decimalisation

Well piss off to Germany you traitor

well, the currency of a country is like its most important representation of its independance as a nation

im not saying anything bad about the countries that have, but the u.k. has such a strong national identity. idk if thats a bad thing or not

plus, the pound is worth more than the euro, for now, so you guys might as well keep it while you can

im american, by the way

Are you for real??? If you're that ashamed, sod off to Europe and don't come back.

Yes I think it is.

If only people would put jingoistic sentimentality to one side and look at the sound long term economic benefits.

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