Well, this is quite interesting. On one hand we have a pessimistic view on the European Union: this is the region where the recession is still on for 2 years, with no prospects of recovery. The EU’s members (PIGS) are having huge problems with their public deficit. Unemployment hits all time highs (recently it went up to more than 10% for the entire area) and so on… On the other hand, the Norwegian Nobel Committee awards the Nobel peace prize to the same European Union, praising its democracy championship for more than 50 years. The reasons cited by the committee are various: – uninterrupted decades of peace, unparalleled democratic advances, currency stability (sic), advances towards integration. So what could be the reader’s conclusion out of this?
Give me a crystal ball into the future and I would pass you 20% of my profits. Leaving joke aside, I would guess that from a historical perspective, EU will remain as one of the most important achievements. No other area (except US) has achieved so fast such a high economical integration. The standards of living are some of the highest in the world, whilst the crises are quite normal (and not so bad so far, but this remains to be tested with Greece). EU citizens have numerous rights which they tend to forget when hard times hit, but which most of the other world’s citizens do not have (e.g. consumer rights, mobility rights, a decent healthcare system etc). So I think that when we will look back after 50 or 100 years to the European Union, The Nobel peace prize might sound completely justified. And definitely I hope so, since EU represent a model which could be tested on many other areas of the planet…
What can I say. I am surely glad I have invested into USD and Gold, not in Euro as many people here in post-soviet Ukraine. But nevertheless, I wish you crazy European people best of luck!
With no Prospect of Recovery?? I think this is Madly Good. Thanks for posting.