Anyone here know a lot about the european union?

Ryno

Ryno

Active member
Staff member
I don't know much about it and i'm wondering what it was like for the countries before the union and after the union. Was it a good idea?
 
Well I lived in Germany when they went to the Euro from the Mark, and as far as money goes I think it was a lot more convenient not having 5 kinds of bills in my wallet. As far anything else goes, I didn't pay much attention to European politics. There wasn't much going on.
 
im pretty sure most things have turned out better for europe because of it but i am sure people can also argue that point
 
Care to explain?

I've lived in EU for a loong while, was in spain when the euro got introduced. Oh man.. thank fuck for that. peseta was such a fuckin bitch.

Then theres the schengen (spelling?) treaty which allows you to move from nation to nation sans border checks, that's awesome. Except, U.K. isn't in it which is a pain in the ass...

Erm.. do you have specific questions?

The euro was convenient, but it increased prices across the board and took the average joe a couple of years to properly adjust.. Things were generally priced twice of what they were before the Euro was introduced.
 
I was curious how the general price of things adjusted after the introduction in certain countries...it must have been good for some and worse for other right?
 
No, not really. I know for sure the scenario in Germany, the strongest economy in Eurozone.

Basically what happened is that inflation rose due to the currency change but peoples wages weren't properly adjusted. So what you had was that food prices and basic commodoties almost doubled, but wages hadn't.

Then you also have the fact that people were still thinking in the dead currency mindset.. so 2€ were 4DM-.

So to pay 6DM-. for fruit (3€) was "disgusting" and so forth... Couple years later, inflation curbed (check that before you cite me) and wages caught up.

In the lesser off European nations, I think the effect is even worse.
 
The European Union, ever heard of it? It's in Europe.

We don't trade out of a log cabin. We trade on the New York Stock Exchange. Ever heard of it? It's in New York.....-Andy Bernard
 
Thats interesting...and thats the kinda information i was curious about too (wages and commodity prices). clearly every country had a different wage system and food system, how did they all manage to standardized? have they?
 
I *think* that there is no standardized minimum wage or anything like that... but really that's jsut a guess.

Food prices and stuff varies from country to country, it's still a free market so you will get different prices throughout Eurozone.

The currency will get another shake up once countries like Czech Republic, Poland and so forth join it in.. 2012? or 2013.. one of those years.
 
Where bouts in Ireland? Do you mean you get student loans? I'm curious, why is it that you get your university paid for you (if you don't get a student loan)?
 
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