The EU is disintegrating before our eyes.

Gavin Mortimer. The Spectator.

Germany’s decision to reintroduce border controls in an attempt to halt mass immigration is awkward for Keir Starmer.
A fortnight ago the British Prime Minister, a friend of European free movement, visited Berlin and among the issues he discussed with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz were trade, defence and immigration.
A few days before Starmer’s visit, three people were killed at a diversity festival by a suspected Syrian refugee. Germany’s decision to tighten its borders (initially for six months but this could be extended) is partly a reaction to that atrocity as well as the failed attack last week on the Israeli consulate in Munich.
It is also a response by Scholz to the victory last week of the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) in Thuringia’s state election.
That success was the latest triumph in Europe for parties variously described as populist, far-right or nationalist. Take your pick.
Another description could be that they are the parties of the disillusioned, voters who see in the EU nothing but a failed project that has impoverished and endangered them.
Across the continent, mass immigration has led to a deterioration in social cohesion, to the ‘ghettoisation’ of inner cities from Malmo to Marseille to Mannheim, and the re-emergence of an anti-Semitism that Europe hoped it had eradicated three-quarters of a century ago.
This disillusionment has now spread to the elites. On Monday, Mario Draghi, the ex-president of the European Central Bank and a poster boy for the European technocrat class, published a 400-page report on competitiveness that was commissioned by the European Commission in 2023.
Shortly before Draghi published the report, the EU Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, posted a message on social media saying that she was ‘eager’ to hear what the former Italian PM had to say.
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She might not have liked what she heard. Over 400 pages, Draghi laid bare just how sclerotic and uncompetitive the EU has become this century. Things are so bad that Draghi admitted to having ‘nightmares’ about Europe’s future if nothing is done to halt what he described as the ‘slow agony’ of the continent’s economic decline.
In the press conference that accompanied the release of his report, Draghi said that only ‘unprecedented’ reform would arrest the decline. ‘For the first time since the Cold War, we must genuinely fear for our self-preservation, and the reason for a unified response has never been so compelling’, explained Draghi.
He said Europe required additional annual investment of at least €750 billion – approximately 5 per cent of the EU’s gross domestic product – if the EU is to catch up to America and prevent being overtaken by China. It is a damning indictment of how moribund the EU has become that of the world’s leading 50 tech firms only four are European.
If the 27 EU members ignore his report, Draghi predicted a grim future: ‘We will be forced to choose,’ he said. ‘We will not be able to become, at once, a leader in new technologies, a beacon of climate responsibility and an independent player on the world stage. We will not be able to finance our social model. We will have to scale back some, if not all, of our ambitions.’
In other words, Europe will continue its transformation from a first world to a third world continent.
This is the reason why so many voters have turned away from the traditional mainstream parties, be it in France, Holland, Italy or Germany. They see their living standards are on the wane, and that poverty, violence and anti-Semitism are on the rise.
As I wrote in January, as Europe’s farmers descended on Brussels to vent their anger against an EU determined to impose ruinous green dogma on their industry, Europeans have had enough of the chronic mismanagement that has been the hallmark of the EU this century. ‘In 2008 the Eurozone and the US had comparable gross domestic products (GDP) of $14.2 trillion and $14.8 trillion in today’s prices,’ I wrote. ‘In 2023 the eurozone’s GDP had edged up to just over $15 trillion, while America’s stood at $26.9 trillion’
If France was a US State its GDP per capita would rank it between Idaho and Arkansas, respectively the 48th and 49th most prosperous states. Germany would be 39th, just behind Oklahoma.
Draghi’s blueprint for change contains a series of proposals for reinvigorating the bloc. ‘Europe must become a place where innovation flourishes,’ he proclaimed.
Easier said than done. The two traditional powerhouses of Europe, Germany and France, are in desperate economic trouble with the latter crippled by huge debts. They are also the EU countries where discontent with mass immigration is the most visceral.
France’s new Prime Minister, Michel Barnier, has promised to address the issue and he might be emboldened by Germany’s decision to reintroduce border controls. Three years ago Barnier declared himself in favour of a three to five year moratorium on immigration, saying that the current flow was unsustainable and responsible for an increase in insecurity and Islamism.
The same applies in Britain, although Starmer and his government appear incapable of admitting it. Their heads remain stuck in the sand, not just about the downside of mass immigration but about the scale of the EU’s decline. Why would any sane political leader want closer ties with an organisation that is suffering a slow and agonising death?

Germany to reintroduce border controls in an attempt to halt mass immigration?

And how are they going to achieve that? being enclosed on all sides by EU free movement countries.
At least we've got 20-odd miles of sea to cross, and look how easy that is!
OK., they could build a tall wall round it, but that's a bit extreme!

The best approach is, give them nothing. They'll soon get fed-up of coming!

Tonker

Germany has done it before.



LINK

TTS., I referred to that in my post. However, building a wall around a city is different to building a wall around a whole country.

Trump wanted to do it.

I have been watching that debate from last night, Trump v Harris, Trump still has a lot to say and Harris knows how to wind him up, because she is lawyer, she certainly got Trump incriminating himself on the witness stand.

I enjoyed that far more than our Sunak v Starmer stuff earlier on in the summer.

Gaffer, anti Eu propoganda as usual!

We are are in a far, far worse state than Germany. Its there for all to see!
Their economy is far superior to ours. In fact, they have the largest economy in Europe, and third largest economy in the world! Their GDP is on the rise, albeit slowly. But never the less, on the rise.
Ireland, yes, Ireland which is a short boat ride from us and are still members of the EU are forecasted to have a GDP growth of 5% this year.

Compare that with ours which is forecast at less than 1%!
So much for brexit

Cheshire Puss

Where are yoo getting your facts from ?

But straight from the horses mouth, from the European Commission no less.

"Following a recession in 2023, economic activity in Germany is expected to stagnate in 2024"


LINK

CC

A man with an exceptional record in banking and economics in the EU, and farther afield, is asked by the President of the EU to report on the future of the EU.
You seem fit to describe his conclusions as propaganda.

Mario Draghi
Biography

As President of the European Central Bank, Mario Draghi is a member of the Executive Board, the Governing Council and the General Council, as well as Chair of the European Systemic Risk Board. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Bank for International Settlements.

He graduated from the Sapienza Università di Roma in 1970 and received his PhD in Economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1977. From 2006 to 2011 he served as Governor of the Banca d’Italia. In April 2006 he was elected Chairman of the Financial Stability Board and served in that function until November 2011. Prior to taking the helm of the Banca d’Italia, he was Vice-Chairman and Managing Director at Goldman Sachs International (2002-05), Director General of the Italian Treasury (1991-2001), Chairman of the European Economic and Financial Committee (2000-01) and Chairman of the OECD’s Working Party No 3 (1999-2001). In 1993 he was appointed Chairman of the Italian Committee for Privatisations and from 1984 to 1990 he was an Executive Director of the World Bank. During his time at the Treasury, he chaired the committee that revised Italian corporate and financial legislation and drafted the law that governs Italian financial markets. He has also served on the boards of several banks and corporations.

Mr Draghi has been a member of the Board of Trustees of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton since 2009. He was previously an Honorary Trustee of the Brookings Institution and an Institute of Politics Fellow at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. Between 1975 and 1981, he was Professor of Economics at the universities of Trento, Padua and Venice, and from 1981 to 1991 he served as Professor of Economics at Università degli Studi di Firenze. He has written and edited a number of publications on macroeconomic and financial issues.

Posted by: Tommy Two Stroke (16211)
"Cheshire Puss
"Where are yoo getting your facts from ?"
Tommy.
I do know a little bit about about economics. Although, I'm no expert, but, I know enough to decipher the current economics of different countries without the need to write ( or copy and paste) a long essay!

Gaffer.
All you have done is quoted Mario Draghi's Biography!
He may well have written and edited a number of publications on macroeconomic and financial issues.

But, did his written publications predict that Ireland whom are still members of the EU are forecasted to have a GDP growth of 5% this year compared to our meagre 1%.?
If he did, I'll employ him to sort my finances ( or lack of them ) out.

he,s probably copied & pasted it .

I Just wish the GOV of the day announce a proclamation a white paper etc stating that EVERYONE (I MEAN THE LOT) WHO LAND ON OUR SHORES GET SWEET
F.A. NOT A BEAN COMPLETELY NOTHING MAYBE THEN THAT WILL STOP THESE BONE IDLE LAYABOUTS !

GB
And what would happen if they got "sweet Fa" ? There's not enough jail space to put them should they take to thieving to survive. Just a thought.

Cheshire Puss said:

"I do know a little bit about about economics. Although, I'm no expert"

Yoo probably know has much as what an accountant would know

TTS

Describing the Dragi report as propaganda ignores the fact that Germany’s economic performance, a serious concern of Dragi, across a population of 85 million,has a major bearing on the well being of the EU.
Over in Ireland, population 5 million, very low business taxes have enabled them to attract a substantial number of companies providing highly paid jobs. However when the EU introduces harmonisation of business taxes across the EU it may be a different story. The Apple company have paid, in some cases , less than 1% in Irish business taxes which the EU have classed as illegal state aid. Apple have now had to repay €13 billion back to Ireland for unpaid taxes. They, Apple, have been through the appeals process right to the bitter end. The money in an escrow account since the original charge is now destined forthe Irish government.

Gaffer

Yes, I was reading about that earlier on.