Arguments in favour of the Euro and a Federal Europe II - from Scotia 28/08/00
[another Scotia list member stated]The two items are inextricably bound together. Sign up for the Euro and your are committed to disappearing into a Federal Europe. The centre of economic and political power will be Brussels, even London will become a back-water and Edinburgh - hardly on the map.
This is obviously getting close to the point of absolute disagreement where further debate is pointless but I'll make one last point. I don't think you fully understand what federalism is all about. The whole point of a federal system is that there isn't one centre of economic and political power. That is something that happens in a centralised state like the UK pre-1997. Here's a few examples:-
non-federalFrance (Jacobin centralism)
Paris predominates economically and politically and is the central hub of the entire transportation and media system
UK (incorporating Union in 1707 and 1801)
London ditto above to a large extent although not quite as drastically
Now lets look at some federal states.
Canada (confederation in 1867)
federal capital Ottawa is a relatively small city and a backwater in economic terms smaller than many of the 10 provincial capitals
main economic and transport centres are Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver in terms of media Toronto is #1 in English language and Montreal is #1 in French language
USA (federal systen in 1775)
federal capital is Washington is a fair sized city but many of the 50 federal capitals are larger
main economic and transport centres are New York, Los Angeles and Chicago in terms of media Los Angeles is #1 and New York is #2 but CNN is based in Atlanta, Georgia
Australia (federal system since just after 1900?)
federal capital is Canberra a small town in the middle of the outback that is nowhere near as important economically as the main state capitals on the coast namely Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane
economically and in media terms there is great rivalry between Melbourne and Sydney
Brazil is much the same. Brasilia vs Rio and Sao Paulo. No contest in terms of economics.
A federal Europe like other federal systems would have multiple centres of economic and political influence. Signing up for the Euro and Maastricht etc is not the same as signing up for an incorporating union like that of 1707 as the model of governance is completely different. In a well run federal system there is a very limited range of powers allocated to the federal level of governmentin a manner designed to best coordinate the internal and external relationships of the members states on the basis of a written constitution.