To me it seems like pretty stupid idea. For example now, my national currency is pretty weak, so it's like 1$ = 22SK. That means I can work as freelance programmer and ask pretty small money for my services and I am still profitable. I just change $$$ for my national currency and I have 22 times more money (ok that's exagerated... actually - because of higher overall prices of almost every product - from gas to basic groceries - and insanely expensive services here I have actually only 3-4 times more money but it's still pretty good when you think about it). Once we switch to euros, it will cause prices of commodities and services to jump higher (according to most analysis, everything will be 2-3 times more expensive if we are lucky... if not maybe 4-5 times more expensive!!) and because 1 euro = cca 1.5$ and dollar is dropping very fast, I won't be able to work as freelance programmer and be profitable. This whole price adjusting thing in EU is logically flawed... they want eastern europian countries to have same prices as they have in UK or Germany but they don't care about average wages at all. For instance, average monthly payout in Slovakia is under 550$ (yes I'm not kidding). Average weekly payout in UK is 457 GPB which is cca 935$ a week. So it's 3739$ each month compared to 550$ each month here. And they want us to have same prices as them. Now this is ridiclous. What's your opinion? EDIT: sorry I miscalculated those payouts a bit... now it should be correct...
Hi Risoknop, you can't expect to see everything change with the touch of a button. Actually the only fully rated member of the EU of the new candidates is Slovenia. Now about the wages, I hope you understand that they can't just flip the whole wage up in one time. We are talking about more then 150 million people that joined, it's impossible. Did you know that Spain/Italy/Greece/Portugal (the people living there are not gonna enjoy this, but it's the truth) were actually 3th world countries compared to the more Northern countries in the years after WW2.
When the euro came to Ireland it didnt take long before prices started getting out of hand. It went down abit after awhile but its going back up now again. The question you need to ask yourselves is do you realy need the euro. It worked out well for Ireland but your country has different needs. Dont bow down to the bully EU there a bunch of feckin Nazis!!!!!! Not all countries do everything the EU wants (Ireland isnt one of them unfortunatly) but your country can be. The EU is out of control and needs to be rebuilt. Its a good idea but badly implemented. Also everyone wants to buy in dollars now but nobody wants to sell in dollars. People need to use the best currencly instead of defaulting to the dollar!
Problem is that our dumb government has already accepted to switch to euro from January 1st 2009. Now they cannot take it back because they are already bound by treaties with Brussel they have already signed...
it's not too nice, because if euro raises all things get more expensive and us-euro transfer rate doesn't advantage us
Nothings written in stone my friend Here in Ireland people seem to be asleep when it comes to what the EU is doing to us. You need to get the word out hopefully enough people will join you and you maybe able to put enough pressure on the people that can do something. Dont forget Italy was gonna change from the Euro awhile ago. If they wanted to then nobody can stop them. The same goes for you. You just need many like minded people unfortunately:/
I don't mind if it is EUR or USD or XYZ, but there should be one currency because in the world with tons of currencies, many people suck your money when you do something internationally. Every conversion cost you money for nothing and that is bad. Single currency is a good way I think.
Single currency is good if its implemented well but look at the euro. If I buy from a country in the EU I have to pay 21% tax give or take depending on the country. For that reason I don't buy within the EU. So if everyone adopted that attitude it would be disastrous for EU nations. The EU is a good idea on paper but the only way its working out so far is TAX TAX TAX TAX TAX. We get taxed on feckin everything here. I hope Ron Paul gets into power in America and does away with the tax system. That way we will have proof that tax isnt needed. It wasnt needed for centuries and I feel we as EU countries should stick together and try and get rid of it here. Ron Paul 08 lol
Yeah but whats the cost of living? Rent for me now a month is 260 euro. If i lived in Peru with that kind of rent i would be in serious dept by now Yet the OP is a EU citizen and his monthly out going is allot lees than mine. Also my income would be allot more than his if he was working for average wage. Different countries different needs yet all under the same crappy umbrella lol
Well I seem to be in a minority but I appreciate the euro. Especially in this global internet connected world it makes a lot of sense. Euro makes it much easier to compare prices online. Want to buy something on a webshop ? It's easy to compare prices from all over Europe and choose the cheapest one. No more calculations in exchange rates, or exchange rates that are different every few days (you buy/sell now something and next week when you transfer the money the rate is different and you end up making a loss instead of a profit). Or the bank charges you 10% or another obscene fee because they have to exchange a currency. Using IBAN, I can now transfer (and receive) money to anyone's bank account in europe without any extra costs. Instead of selling things on ebay in my country alone I can sell to people in the whole europe without any extra costs for me to receive money. I live in Belgium, about 30km away from Netherlands. We often visit shops there because prices on some things are cheaper. I can compare the price of furniture at Ikea in NL and BE and buy where it is cheapest.. no need to exchange money so I can pay in another country, no-one at the border who stops me and asks what I bought and that I need to declare it, .. I just drive to another country because I buy something there that is cheaper and take it home. Xmas shopping ? We went to the markets in Germany (Koln and Aachen). Was just as easy as going to the market in my city. (ok being part of the EU has less advantages if you live on an island like in the UK or Ireland, then it's not a matter of driving.. but for all other countries on mainland and especially for people who live near a border it's a big advantage). I remember going to Italy in the past on holiday. We needed to have money with us for each country we passed - france, germany, switserland, italy. When you wanted to buy something in a shop in Italy, recalculate each price to see if it was expensive or not. When you came back you had all the money in other currencies you could either keep until the next year (and hope they didn't depreciate) or convert it back and again pay fees. Now ? I have euros in my pocket, drive to where I want and it's easy to compare prices. What a lot of people forget about europe - it's not only the same currency but the same market. No borders where you have to declare things you buy/sell. Not a lot of paperwork involved if you want to work in another country. You are a freelance programmer ? You are good ? Sell your services to a company in another european country. Nothing stops you and there are no complicated papers to fulfil. Are you tired of the bad weather in your country, want to move to another country to work there ? Just do it. No visa, greencard or whatever paperwork to request and hope you will be allowed to work in another country. If you are a European, and you find a job in another country in the EU, you can go there and do it. Prices did went up the last years but you can't blame it all on the euro - especially speculation on global markets and increasing oil prices are to blame. The falling us$ value is more to blame to Bush and his wars he needs to pay, than to the euro (and would also have happened if there was no euro introduced). I also get the impression you were misinformed - prices of wages and products will not be the same in every country ! Even now products are still a lot cheaper in countries where they were before the euro.. ie compare Portugal and Scandinavian countries, and 1 euro will probably still buy you 3 times more in Portugal now (and it did before euro). Prices did not go x5 because the euro was introduced.. 'cheap/poorer' countries still stayed like this compared to the better industrialised european countries.. So I do not expect huge price increases (without wage increases) to happen in your country ?!