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Another response involves the surgical removal of elected leaders in Greece and Italy and their replacement with technocratic experts, trusted within the EU to pass economic reforms deemed appropriate by policymakers in Berlin, the bloc’s top paymaster, and at EU headquarters in Brussels. Europe this week prised open the lid of the dustbin of history to accommodate Mr Papandreou, Greece’s Socialist prime minister since October 2009, and Mr Berlusconi, the billionaire who has dominated Italian politics since 1994.

The sidelining of elected politicians in the continent that exported democracy to the world was, in its way, as momentous a development as this week’s debt market turmoil. In effect, eurozone policymakers have decided to suspend politics as normal in two countries because they judge it to be a mortal threat to Europe’s monetary union. They have ruled that European unity, a project more than 50 years in the making, is of such overriding importance that politicians accountable to the people must give way to unelected experts who can keep the show on the road.

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Jin Liqun, supervisory board chairman of China Investment Corporation, a sovereign wealth fund with $410bn in assets under management, bluntly told Al Jazeera television: “If you look at the troubles which have happened in European societies, this is purely because of the accumulated troubles of the worn-out welfare society. The labour laws induce sloth and indolence rather than hard work.”

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ORIGINAL: Termyn8or

What do you think is going to happen ?

T^T

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ORIGINAL: Iamsemisweet

That was really interesting.  I do think the next step in all of this, not just in Europe, but also here, will be the consolidation of governments.   In Europe, it may involve consolidating countries.  Here, on a smaller scale, I think that cities may be looking to consolidate goverments with other cities, or the County.  I think there will be less political diversity than we are used to.

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Barroso's solidarity call, in a commentary for The Observer newspaper, seemed particularly aimed at Britain, where the euro zone debt crisis has fueled an already strong eurosceptic strain.

"As we witness fundamental changes to the economic and geopolitical order, Europe needs to advance together or risk fragmentation," Barroso said.

"The dynamic of globalisation in financial and economic terms, but also in geopolitical terms, confronts Europeans with a stark choice: live together, share a common destiny and count in the world; or face the prospect of disunity and decline. In this defining moment, we either unite or face irrelevance," he said.

Barroso said he hoped that when historians looked back on these times "they will understand that we stepped back from the brink of fragmentation. I hope they will see how the UK fully engaged with fellow member states and institutional partners to ensure the stability of the European Union."

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Barroso said the crisis had shown that the euro area needed deeper integration of policies and governance. "This is the only way to secure the sustainability of the euro," he said.

"And it must come together with a strong focus on generating growth," he said. He said the speed of the 27-nation EU bloc and the 17-nation euro area "can no longer be the speed of the slowest or most reluctant member," implying that Britain must allow other states to forge ahead with closer integration.

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ORIGINAL: Iamsemisweet

I haven't studied much about the history of the EU, but I imagine the extension into the political was the biggest fear of those who opposed it.

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ORIGINAL: FirstQuaker




quote:

Jin Liqun, supervisory board chairman of China Investment Corporation, a sovereign wealth fund with $410bn in assets under management, bluntly told Al Jazeera television: “If you look at the troubles which have happened in European societies, this is purely because of the accumulated troubles of the worn-out welfare society. The labour laws induce sloth and indolence rather than hard work.”

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ORIGINAL: CoreFocus

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ORIGINAL: FirstQuaker




quote:

Jin Liqun, supervisory board chairman of China Investment Corporation, a sovereign wealth fund with $410bn in assets under management, bluntly told Al Jazeera television: “If you look at the troubles which have happened in European societies, this is purely because of the accumulated troubles of the worn-out welfare society. The labour laws induce sloth and indolence rather than hard work.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbDeS_mXMnM

China should safe it's money.

Oh and please stop with all the "Reich" crap.

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ORIGINAL: ColeYote

OP, have you even seen a picture of Europe before? You seem to know less than nothing about it.