Cameron uses UK veto - what will it mean for us and Europe (and the rest of the world)?

[Callisto]

Just that.

I'm glad that DC had the balls to use the veto - the treaty being discussed would not have been good for Britain and could have been bad. However, the Asian markets have already responded by falling and I'm guessing that that US and Euro markets will fall too. So, are there any economists (or otherwise) out there who can throw some light on what may happen next?

Good point - if our policies were more influenced on a collective level via Europe they will be less influenced by party politics. European politics is another issue but technocrats may work on policy more effectively than than our status-driven politicians.

Don't get me wrong pretendhousewife, I want to exercise my vote soon, but at the moment here I can't see a credible alternative to Monti.

The centre left wouldn't get a large majority and therefore wouldn't be able to start those reforms that only a left wing govtm could implement (which is what I would like)

The right... well, I shiver at the thought of Berlusconi/Lega back again. And they have proved to be totally incapable of really reforming this country.

He has been a boon to the plastic surgery sector though. You have to give him that.

Oh yes. And don't forget prostitution!

Reports tonight that Commerzbank, second largest bank in Germany, is to be effectively nationalised before Christmas as it is in negotiations to have further capital injections from the German state that already owns 255 of teh bank.

The stockmarkets rallied on Friday in a relief rally on the treaty discussions but lost almost all their gains today as the market realised that nothing of substance had been agreed. France is under real pressure from rating agencies threatening to downgrade its debt.

Europe is a long long way from solving this problem.

Ing, is also in negotiations trying to swap some of its debt for equity. The European banking system is in chaos.

..25% of the bank.

So basically, hurrah for the City (which has made £££££ out of euros coming from countries that are still making things, instead of pure financial speculation) which is exposing the financial status of many EU countries... I see.

You're a mean one, Mr. Grinch
You really are a heel,
You're as cuddly as a cactus, you're as charming as an eel, Mr. Grinch,
You're a bad banana with a greasy black peel!

You're a monster, Mr. Grinch,
Your heart's an empty hole,
Your brain is full of spiders, you have garlic in your soul, Mr. Grinch,
I wouldn't touch you with a thirty-nine-and-a-half foot pole!

You're a foul one, Mr. Grinch,
You have termites in your smile,
You have all the tender sweetness of a seasick crocodile, Mr. Grinch,
Given a choice between the two of you I'd take the seasick crocodile!

You're a rotter, Mr. Grinch,
You're the king of sinful sots,
Your heart's a dead tomato splotched with moldy purple spots, Mr. Grinch,
You're a three decker sauerkraut and toadstool sandwich with arsenic sauce!

You nauseate me, Mr. Grinch,
With a nauseous super "naus"!,
You're a crooked dirty jockey and you drive a crooked hoss, Mr. Grinch,
Your soul is an appalling dump heap overflowing with the most disgraceful
Assortment of rubbish imaginable mangled up in tangled up knots!

You're a foul one, Mr. Grinch,
You're a nasty wasty skunk,
Your heart is full of unwashed socks, your soul is full of gunk, Mr. Grinch,
The three words that best describe you are as follows, and I quote,
"Stink, stank, stunk"!

Here have a

Sorry posted on wrong thread blush

Kinda appropriate though as describes David Cameron.

It's the pleased tone of this thread that i find appalling.

Well, Amicissima, there is some kind of "I told you so" smug undertone to many posts...

I am not optimistic either about the unfolding events. Also because I live in Italy, and the danger for us is to get an even more populistic right wing government in at the next elections. Which makes the "European technocrats" palatable, iyswim.

It is not the first time that we've had a temporary government lead by technocrats. Between 1993/1994 we had Mr Azeglio Ciampi as prime minister (who became a much loved Presidente della Repubblica in 1999), at a complex institutional and economic time.

The recent Berlusconi govt lost its majority in the Parlamento. If - as we have been led to believe - it was necessary to act quickly, there was simply no time to wait for new elections.
I honestly don't want my country to default, or to go back to the Lira. I don't want it to be a cheap holiday destination or a place where cheap clothes are made.

What do you mean by "external people"?

technocrats, I think is a term used by some other poster in the thread, which I just used because I am lazy.

Here in Italy we call it "a government of technicians" or maybe professionals... they are not external though, they are very much Italian. Apart from Monti, who has worked for the EU, most of the new ministers are academics.

If the UK had a stellar record on economic management over the last 50 or so years or so, like say, Germany or even France, I'd be a lot happier.....

the problem is that although they have power they are in no way accountable to the UK voters

Whatmeworry oh yes Germany have a fab track record any body with a a level in Economics would have know italy and Greece should have not been in the euro but you keep on trusting what the Germans have to say.