www.washingtonpost.com . . . -

BRUSSELS — Political posters in Rome are comparing her to Hitler. A popular British magazine dubbed her “Europe’s most dangerous leader.” But could German Chancellor Angela Merkel — the frugal physicist foisting tough austerity on the region’s hard-hit economies — really be the most pro-European leader in Europe?



Merkel arrives here Thursday for a European Union summit, with the stoic 57-year-old raised in East Germany again seen as the chief stumbling block to a shock-and-awe response to the region’s debt crisis. Jealously guarding the purse strings of Germany — an anchor of economic might and stability in a region adrift in financial trouble — the leader nicknamed “Frau Nein” by the European press is resisting calls to roll out a bevy of measures seen as possible quick fixes to the crisis.But especially in recent weeks, Merkel and her top ministers have been spelling out a far grander, German alternative to convince markets the euro is here to stay. What they envision would mark a radical step forward in European integration through a “political union” in which countries in the region would act more like American states, sharing an elected president and even a pan-European army.



Such visions are hardly new, but the Germans are nevertheless building a fresh case that integration is the only way to shore up the foundations of the euro, albeit one that could take years, if not generations, to see through. Part of the summit here will be dedicated to debating the first steps of such a path, including the creation of a regional banking supervisor that, in about a year, would have the power to do something long considered taboo in the fiercely independent nations of the euro zone: override the authority of national governments.

Plans also being discussed call for the establishment of a sort of European Treasury down the line, vesting central authorities with broad powers over national budgets.

PopsFrost wrote:

Oh goodie. As soon as we get an American in the White House we can start playing the Russians off against the EUians and vice-versa.

Putin: Russia will join the euro one day

www.telegraph.co.uk . . . - Vladimir Putin said it is "quite possible" that Russia will one day join the eurozone and create a currency that would eclipse the US dollar as the global reserve standard. Speaking at a conference in Germany the Russian prime minister, who is in the country for talks with Chancellor Angela Merkel, said he was convinced the euro would stabilise and strengthen despite the current sovereign debt crisis.

What they envision would mark a radical step forward in European integration through a “political union” in which countries in the region would act more like American states, sharing an elected president and even a pan-European army.



Such visions are hardly new, but the Germans are nevertheless building a fresh case that integration is the only way to shore up the foundations of the euro, albeit one that could take years, if not generations, to see through.

The time has come for a European Federation

By Viviane Reding, Vice-President of the European Commission - Today, European leaders will be meeting in Brussels to seal the future of the European Union. It is a decisive moment for Europe. It is the moment to demonstrate to our citizens and to the world that Europe has a strong determination to further integrate. The crisis has triggered a very necessary debate about where we stand in Europe. One thing is clear though: the way out of the crisis passes by consolidating our Union into a stronger, ever closer and more perfect European Union. We should realise that this crisis is firstly a  crisis of confidence. Just look for a moment to the other side of the Atlantic: in May 2012 the debt mountain in the United States was 15,8 trillion dollars and 101% of annual GDP (while the euro zone average is at 91%). In 2012, the United States will run an annual deficit of $1.1 trillion, or 7% of GDP (while the euro zone average is at 3%). These figures show that the United States is clearly on an unsustainable fiscal trajectory. It is not me who says it. It is the Chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve, Ben Bernanke. And yet, no one calls in question the single market of the United States or the viability of the U.S. dollar. One of the reasons for this fact is that our American partners have grown more than 200 years ago from a loose union  of states into a fiscal and a political union. The foundations for the federal political union of the U.S. were set in 1790. After the U.S. War of Independence, many of the U.S. states were heavily indebted. This fact led three U.S. politicians – Hamilton, Jefferson and Madison – to agree over a dinner on the need to mutualise, as a one-off measure, the states’ debt and to issue fresh bonds backed by the U.S. Treasury. These bonds back until today the U.S. dollar, the U.S. banking system and the global strength of the U.S. economy. Every citizen can see this when he enters a U.S. bank today. Because under U.S. law, insured institutions are required to place signs at their place of business stating that "deposits are backed by the full faith and credit of the United States Government." This federal guarantee is why U.S. citizens trust that their deposits are safe, also in times of crisis.

Over the years to come, Europe could choose a similar approach. European leaders are currently preparing the blueprint for it. This should include, amongst others, a single European banking supervisory authority and a European deposit guarantee scheme. The most efficient way to do this would be to transfer the competence for the supervision of all systemically relevant banks to the European Central Bank. This can be done on the basis of our existing Treaties. Such a Banking Union should be backed by the  full faith and credit given jointly by the euro area governments, and one day by a European Finance Ministry. In the medium term, a Banking Union can only work if complemented by a full Fiscal and Political Union. Our destination in the coming years is clear: if we want to preserve and strengthen Europe's position in the world, we need to turn our  Economic and Monetary Union into a strong European Political Federation with a Monetary, Fiscal and Banking Union, covering at least the euro zone, while being open to all EU Member States that wish to join. The answer to the crisis is therefore more Europe. Of course, changes will not happen overnight in the same way as Rome was not built in a day. However, we now need a credible roadmap for turning this vision into reality by 2020.This week's European Council may very well become the European version of the Alexander Hamilton dinner of 1790. European  Commission President Barroso has tabled ambitious proposals, and I am confident that they will find many positive responses, including in the European Parliament, which is the democratically elected legislature of the European Union. However, achieving now a quantum leap in European integration requires from all Heads of State and Government to look today beyond short-term interests and to see the bigger picture. They will have to understand that in today's globalised world, sharing and federalising sovereignty does not lead to a loss in democratic power. But to the only way of maintaining democratic power in view of ever growing global challenges, starting from the current financial and debt crisis to climate change. Time has come for European leaders to show that the euro and the European Union – like diamonds – are forever. And that they will not only weather the storm, but grow stronger. The time has come to build a European Federation.

ibigmang wrote:

Simple, your euron-crisis is making gasoline cheaper in the USA. Just in time for my summer road trips. Thanks buddy.

EU_Army wrote:

PopsFrost wrote:

Oh goodie. As soon as we get an American in the White House we can start playing the Russians off against the EUians and vice-versa.

Good luck with that:

Putin: Russia will join the euro one day

www.telegraph.co.uk . . . - Vladimir Putin said it is "quite possible" that Russia will one day join the eurozone and create a currency that would eclipse the US dollar as the global reserve standard. Speaking at a conference in Germany the Russian prime minister, who is in the country for talks with Chancellor Angela Merkel, said he was convinced the euro would stabilise and strengthen despite the current sovereign debt crisis.

After a strong start to the year, the ruble is now one of the world's worst performing currencies, having shed 11.7% against the dollar in May alone.

online.wsj.com . . .

EU_Army wrote:

The time has come for a European Federation

By Viviane Reding, Vice-President of the European Commission - Today, European leaders will be meeting in Brussels to seal the future of the European Union. It is a decisive moment for Europe. It is the moment to demonstrate to our citizens and to the world that Europe has a strong determination to further integrate. The crisis has triggered a very necessary debate about where we stand in Europe. One thing is clear though: the way out of the crisis passes by consolidating our Union into a stronger, ever closer and more perfect European Union. We should realise that this crisis is firstly a  crisis of confidence. Just look for a moment to the other side of the Atlantic: in May 2012 the debt mountain in the United States was 15,8 trillion dollars and 101% of annual GDP (while the euro zone average is at 91%). In 2012, the United States will run an annual deficit of $1.1 trillion, or 7% of GDP (while the euro zone average is at 3%). These figures show that the United States is clearly on an unsustainable fiscal trajectory. It is not me who says it. It is the Chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve, Ben Bernanke. And yet, no one calls in question the single market of the United States or the viability of the U.S. dollar. One of the reasons for this fact is that our American partners have grown more than 200 years ago from a loose union  of states into a fiscal and a political union. The foundations for the federal political union of the U.S. were set in 1790. After the U.S. War of Independence, many of the U.S. states were heavily indebted. This fact led three U.S. politicians – Hamilton, Jefferson and Madison – to agree over a dinner on the need to mutualise, as a one-off measure, the states’ debt and to issue fresh bonds backed by the U.S. Treasury. These bonds back until today the U.S. dollar, the U.S. banking system and the global strength of the U.S. economy. Every citizen can see this when he enters a U.S. bank today. Because under U.S. law, insured institutions are required to place signs at their place of business stating that "deposits are backed by the full faith and credit of the United States Government." This federal guarantee is why U.S. citizens trust that their deposits are safe, also in times of crisis.

Over the years to come, Europe could choose a similar approach. European leaders are currently preparing the blueprint for it. This should include, amongst others, a single European banking supervisory authority and a European deposit guarantee scheme. The most efficient way to do this would be to transfer the competence for the supervision of all systemically relevant banks to the European Central Bank. This can be done on the basis of our existing Treaties. Such a Banking Union should be backed by the  full faith and credit given jointly by the euro area governments, and one day by a European Finance Ministry. In the medium term, a Banking Union can only work if complemented by a full Fiscal and Political Union. Our destination in the coming years is clear: if we want to preserve and strengthen Europe's position in the world, we need to turn our  Economic and Monetary Union into a strong European Political Federation with a Monetary, Fiscal and Banking Union, covering at least the euro zone, while being open to all EU Member States that wish to join. The answer to the crisis is therefore more Europe. Of course, changes will not happen overnight in the same way as Rome was not built in a day. However, we now need a credible roadmap for turning this vision into reality by 2020.This week's European Council may very well become the European version of the Alexander Hamilton dinner of 1790. European  Commission President Barroso has tabled ambitious proposals, and I am confident that they will find many positive responses, including in the European Parliament, which is the democratically elected legislature of the European Union. However, achieving now a quantum leap in European integration requires from all Heads of State and Government to look today beyond short-term interests and to see the bigger picture. They will have to understand that in today's globalised world, sharing and federalising sovereignty does not lead to a loss in democratic power. But to the only way of maintaining democratic power in view of ever growing global challenges, starting from the current financial and debt crisis to climate change. Time has come for European leaders to show that the euro and the European Union – like diamonds – are forever. And that they will not only weather the storm, but grow stronger. The time has come to build a European Federation.

EU_Army wrote:

The EU is an economic superpower, but there is still room for political integration, and the Germans are pushing for exactly that:

www.washingtonpost.com . . . -

BRUSSELS — Political posters in Rome are comparing her to Hitler. A popular British magazine dubbed her “Europe’s most dangerous leader.” But could German Chancellor Angela Merkel — the frugal physicist foisting tough austerity on the region’s hard-hit economies — really be the most pro-European leader in Europe?



Merkel arrives here Thursday for a European Union summit, with the stoic 57-year-old raised in East Germany again seen as the chief stumbling block to a shock-and-awe response to the region’s debt crisis. Jealously guarding the purse strings of Germany — an anchor of economic might and stability in a region adrift in financial trouble — the leader nicknamed “Frau Nein” by the European press is resisting calls to roll out a bevy of measures seen as possible quick fixes to the crisis.But especially in recent weeks, Merkel and her top ministers have been spelling out a far grander, German alternative to convince markets the euro is here to stay. What they envision would mark a radical step forward in European integration through a “political union” in which countries in the region would act more like American states, sharing an elected president and even a pan-European army.



Such visions are hardly new, but the Germans are nevertheless building a fresh case that integration is the only way to shore up the foundations of the euro, albeit one that could take years, if not generations, to see through. Part of the summit here will be dedicated to debating the first steps of such a path, including the creation of a regional banking supervisor that, in about a year, would have the power to do something long considered taboo in the fiercely independent nations of the euro zone: override the authority of national governments.

Plans also being discussed call for the establishment of a sort of European Treasury down the line, vesting central authorities with broad powers over national budgets.

FrogFryer wrote:

leave it to eu army to find the one article that puts a positive spin on what theyve accomplished today .


that would be absolutly nothing

well they did accomplish stuff during the bathroom breaks

What they envision would mark a radical step forward in European integration through a “political union” in which countries in the region would act more like American states, sharing an elected president and even a pan-European army.



Such visions are hardly new, but the Germans are nevertheless building a fresh case that integration is the only way to shore up the foundations of the euro, albeit one that could take years, if not generations, to see through.

another rapid reaction force and more calls to be more like the United States of America

the undisputed biggest and bestest economy and country in da woild

in every area from cars to space to technology
we lead in every possible category and thier is no disputing it or the fact that we are superior dynomos in every single way imaginable

we have to be since the europeans keep insisting that they have to be more like us ROTFLMAO

popocatptl wrote:

It does not work ,so let s do it a step ahead....

Eurocrats are in their ivory tower...nobody listen to them
anymore...

We already have an integrated army which is NATO !

IBM Gangbang wrote:

Simple, your euron-crisis is making gasoline cheaper in the USA. Just in time for my summer road trips. Thanks buddy.