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Economics

الأربعاء الأسود وظله الممتد

Sep 13, 2022 Barry Eichengreen

بيركلي ــ يصادف يوم السادس عشر من سبتمبر/أيلول الجاري الذكرى السنوية الثلاثين لـ "يوم الأربعاء الأسود"، عندما لَـفَـظَـت آلية أسعار الصرف التابعة للنظام النقدي الأوروبي الجنيه البريطاني بطريقة مُـخـزية. ليست كل المناسبات السنوية فرصة للاحتفال. وهذه المناسبة ليست كذلك بكل تأكيد.

كان الأربعاء الأسود "يوم كارثة" لم تتعاف منه قَـط حكومة رئيس الوزراء جون ميجور. كان ميجور، بصفته وزير الخزانة في حكومة مارجريت تاتشر، هو الذي قاد بريطانيا إلى آلية أسعار الصرف في عام 1990، متجاوزا اعتراضات رئيسة الوزراء العنيدة.

رأي ميجور في ربط الجنيه الإسترليني بالمارك الألماني وسيلة لحل مشكلات بريطانيا الاقتصادية بضربة واحدة. كان المفترض أن يساعد الربط بالمارك الألماني في استيراد مصداقية السياسة النقدية الألمانية وإخضاع التضخم المزمن في بريطانيا. وَعَـدَت محاكاة نموذج الاقتصاد الأكثر نجاحا في أوروبا بتنشيط النمو الاقتصادي.

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0 Comments on this paragraph, 3 Comments on this article

Thaomas H Sep 14, 2022

Not being tied to the Euro (a mistaken policy* from the get-go) was what made British participation in the EU possible. Major should have been grateful that speculators forced the government to backtrack on it's decision to be part of the proto-Euro ERM.

* OK the Euro MIGHT have been a OK policy if a) the ECB had set a high enough inflation target to allow member countries price levels to adjust to shocks without "austerity" and b) private investors had not confused the elimination of currency risk with elimination of country risk.
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alex Finch Sep 14, 2022

Just how united is the EU? The UK gets criticized for leaving the “Union”, but the EU is a clown act to rival Boris Johnson. Here’s just one example: Within the EU you have one country that has by law TOTAL Freedom of Information (Sweden), and one country (Austria) with absolutely NO Freedom of Information, despite a string of scandals and corruption allegations (including ex-chancellor, ex-vice chancellor, ex-finance minister…., all oblivious to any wrongdoing), where most Austrian politicians have fiercely opposed any changes and continue to defend their strict government confidentiality which is protected by law. Effectively, you could argue that the Swedes have been tolerating (indirectly condoning) Austria‘s „culture of kickbacks“ within the EU (and it wouldn’t be the only country!!). Half the GDP in Austria is government spending, yet the public has no access to any details on how that money is spent, whereas in Sweden anyone can get every detail within 30 minutes. My request for information regarding a train station upgrade for €80M(!!!) in a town of just 7.000 inhabitants was simply refused by the ÖBB (other than to state the €80M also paid for the upgrade of a few kms of lines near the station as well). A third of housing construction in Austria is government subsidized but details are strictly confidential (here the speculation of entrenched corruption is absolutely rampant within the society). The total lack of independent investigative journalism (a result of effective ghosting), and a media mostly controlled by politicians, helps paper-over the cracks in this union. As a consequence the youth is demoralized, and not interested in working more than 30 hours a week just to pay higher taxes.
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jonathan Story Sep 13, 2022

The Bundesbank made sure that the UK was out of the Euro, just as Merkel made no attempt, indeed the country, to ensure that Cameron got no meaningful concessions on immigration. As soon as Covid hit, of course, national controls went up. But it was too late.
The overwhelming evidence is that neither Germany nor France wanted a Europe of three.
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