For those who have lived and worked in multiple EU countries, the benefits of EU membership are clear, including the relatively simple process of moving between countries.
For example: €100 EUR = 41,172.31 HUF (Hungarian Forint)
Granted, the only two countries to do so (Montenegro and Kosovo) never bothered with creating their own currency to begin with, they went straight to Euros post-independence (with some disgruntlement from the EU). And then there's also two (Bulgaria and Bosnia) which are technically not using Euros, but their currencies are pegged to Euros and stupidly simple to convert (1 EUR = 1.95583 BAM/BGN, so just multiply/divide by 2).
Why didn't they just set the peg to 2?
The initital rate was 1000 levs = 1 DM, in 1999 there was a denomination of 1000 : 1, same year the Euro happened and the Deutsche mark enjoyed the same rate to the Euro.
The hope was that the single currency would be soon followed by political union. Without this the Euro has been a disaster, leading to the European debt crisis, and painful austerity as the price of bailout.
The ability to control your overnight bank rates, and your monetary supply is important. I don't think the convenience of easy travel or easy(ier) trading of goods outweighs it at all.
The good thing is that the EU has improved since then.
On the flip side, Greece is also a great example of how powerful the EU can be. Greece would have absolutely collapsed outside the EU.
So even with the limitations on the EU, Greece did a lot better within the EU than it would have outside.
It was indeed a big backdoor attack to the Euro, exploited by GS [1], at least.
> Greece would have absolutely collapsed outside the EU.
Meat for the IMF, BlackRock and so on; Argentina's twin.
Global economy seems to be an ocean with Orca whales, they hit and eat alongside with sharks. The citizens turns to meat at same moment their politicians betray them [2], whether caused by ignorance or by malice (corruption).
[1] https://www.theguardian.com/business/2010/feb/25/markets-pre...
[2] https://www.theguardian.com/business/2010/apr/18/goldman-sac... ( Now we know the truth. The financial meltdown wasn't a mistake – it was a con )
PS: I wonder what happened to the perpetrators of the 2008 crisis.
By your theory, and by the endless claims of the anti-EU crowd, but it hasn't been. People use euros with no problem, every day, for transactions large and small. It's a major international currency, maybe second only to the dollar.
Every time I travel abroad, I transact in local currencies for transactions large and small all over the world using real-time currency exchange rates via the magic of the Visa/Mastercard network.
If that was the core thing the Euro was supposed to solve, the better solution today is just an EU wide digital payments standard.
The point still stands, a common currency without the ultimate unification part is just disadvantageous for most.
Where's the evidence of disaster?
The Euro crisis was a disaster for multiple countries.
I wouldn’t hold them up as a shining example of “good” or “we should do the same”.
Even in recent decades the US has done much better economically than the EU.
There is a huge difference between EU states and US states.
You are missing the point. The problem is not that transactions work, the problems are with interest rates and government borrowing.
Schengen governs border controls, not the right to work and residency, which is a function of EU membership, not Schengen membership.
I think Switzerland has a bilateral agreement with the EU (or via EFTA) that allows for free movement and employment of people, so they enjoy these freedom as well despite neither being in the EU nor the EEA (but they are a member of EFTA).
Belgium took 3 years to process the form for national insurance which caused me to draw down about 20,000 Euros. I couldn't drive my European vehicle in Belgium because I didn't have Belgium license plate which was required for insurance. Rather than working for the first 3months, I had to visit the gemeentehuis every alternate day to push some piece of paperwork to some government authority. I couldn't park my car in Belgium outside my property because I didn't have permission to do so because it wasn't a Belgian vehicle. In order to rent a property I needed a Belgian bank account, which I could only get if I was a Belgian resident, forcing me to live in a hotel temporarily and using that as my address. I required my accounts to be signed off by a Belgian notary, of which there is a government enforced limit, so to speak to one for a microsecond cost 1000 Euros minimum. At the time, operating a British company in Belgium cost 17,000 Euros fee. I still receive paperwork from the Belgian government more than 10 years after leaving.
The other countries aren't much better, and the only country that was easy to start working in was the UK.
You seem very unaware that your experience is not typical by any means.
"the relatively simple process of moving between countries."
But I wonder, how long ago that was?
This part is proper weird and (very) likely not complaint with the EU directives. All Eurozone banks must be treated the same. Since you appear to be British, that would preclude the Eurozone. Still all banks in the UK were allowed to transact in Euro although there was a spat where the guys in Brussels wanted to exclude London from the juice EU clearance.
Many years back (not in Belgium) I did get a bank account prior to obtaining the local residency. Moving to work within the EU has been absolutely hassle free for me. Again, I have not worked in Belgium.
After a year I realised I should have applied for a temporary residence permit (if you have FoM you are allowed to live as a resisent for 6 months without it), which took a few weeks to get.
This year I finally changed my drivers license over, as I couldn't get a parking permit without a local license. I've owned 2 vehicles with local plates before that. Took a few days to do that.
I did the same to Ireland a decade before, and my experience there was pretty much the same.
I wish I had more details on this. It just comes from a stray comment in a newspaper.
That you need to be a resident to open a bank account is silly, I admit, but KYC and AML are a problem banks have to work with. Even in the EU, you can disappear a bit over borders: my birth country tax office lost me only after one jump and I moved 6 times since then. I always have to call them and explain things as they still don't have a clue that I am not in in my home country anymore; it's been 20+ years...
Your experience sounds a while ago; things did get somewhat easier; my gripes are opening bank accounts (but we have neobanks now; not sure if that works with rent) which should be eu wide, nummerplates (you have to import your car if you move somewhere which I do find nonsense; it's a tax thing) and renting. The rest is pretty smooth. If these things, and preferably tax, can be done eu wide, it's good. I just do the stuff I agree with and ignore the rest; it is what the locals in every country I have been to do too: hell, I am the only one (that I know of) paying (significant) taxes in my town; people laugh at me at parties.
(Then a simple follow up which any Dane would also need to do if they moved between cities.)
The bank account was easy. I didn't bring a car, but I have friends that did and it wasn't complicated.
ref: https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/work/work-abroad/index....
Ireland isn't in Schengen, but a French person can move there tomorrow for work or study etc. They have to show a passport at border control, but otherwise face a very similar situation as they would moving to Germany (fill in some papers, get a local tax id etc).
They each have many implementation details, like if you are in EU but not in Schengen you don't have access to certain common databases.
The desire of countries cherrypicking and sovereignty made Europe very complex structure, I can't wait to have Federal Europe with every country in it with a simplified structure. Can be like US, can be like Switzerland or Germany maybe but thise structures over structures is just way too much and its begging for simplification.
Apparently, %36 of Spanish businesses haven't heard of the Schengen area and another %18 have heard of it but don't know what is it: https://europa.eu/eurobarometer/surveys/detail/3177