Inside Europe

GG

I will catch up ,possibly when all 3 episodes are available.

I did see the ' advert ' for the programme and thought that is my cup of tea for viewing.

I found it utterly chilling for two reasons:

1. Cameron and his cronies only held the referendum because they feared that otherwise there would have to be a GE and labour would get in. They said as much. So - their party interests outweighed the country's.

2. The France/Germany cabal was glaringly obvious at every turn. When Cameron was negotiating, he only targeted their leaders (he had a chat with the Czech leader when he was getting desperate on immigration issues). At one stage French and German leaders were at a meeting of the conservative group within the EU. A club of equals? - I don't think so.

I intend to watch the first episode tonight or tomorrow on catch up. Episode 2 (of 3) is next Monday.
David Cameron is being slated today on Twitter.

Did no-one else watch this!? Compelling viewing.

I have it recorded

the france/germany cable was glaringly obvious at every turn
''Twas ever thus.
Fascinating viewing.

I will watch it tomorrow afternoon. My favourite 'catch up' time when the weather is grim.

Just had a chance to catch up.

I wouldn't want to join DC at a day at the races. Anything he backs is doomed.

It's a very revealing programme.

Ha! That really made me laugh merlotgran.
I agree, it’s a very revealing insight into how we got here.

I watched this programme yesterday, found it extremely interesting and am looking forward to the next two episodes. It showed how naive and out of his depth David Cameron was. It really was a mistake to oppose the election of Barnier and it all went downhill from then.

just watched episode 1 on catch up. We did not seem to have any idea of how to get on with Europe and how to negotiate - maybe a hang over from our days of Empire when we just told everyone what to do! What a mess we made of it all! Party before the good of the country. Wonder if anybody at that stage did any sort of report on the effects of leaving the EU? Perhaps we shall find out tonight?

Watching this last night (4/2), it appeared to me that Germany and France run the EU, and they intend to keep it that way.

I agree GG.
I felt so sorry for the Greek people.
Scary how government ministers and economists have completely different agendas.

GG Those two countries have the strongest economies. If the Euro has to be saved it is down to them. It would have been the UK too if we had been in the Euro, we and France and Germany were the strongest in the EU.

Exactly - in both episodes it has been obvious who is running the EU. All negotiations go through the French and German leaders and then they trot off back to the rest to rubber stamp it. That is wholly unacceptable - it really is. Why do the rest sit back and let this happen? I wonder how often they exercise their veto; and why they do not insist that the negotiating teams should be spread amongst all the members.

This is why I voted against the common market all those years ago - I just felt that the whole thing would be too unwieldy to work in a fair and democratic fashion.

I was appalled while watching last night's programme. Sarkosy was behaving like a petty dictator. Really chilling.

Yggdrasil, aren't we fortunate not to be part of the Euro.

UK still has a strong economy despite the doom and gloom predictions of us not joining the Euro.

The Euro has been a disaster for Greece and not particularly successful for the Mediterranean States. I lived in Spain when the Euro came into force, the prices increased overnight hitting the poorest as alway.

We've got this recorded and it could easily have fallen through the net so I'm glad I've read this thread!

I am delighted we never joined the euro currency. It’s hard enough trying to extricate ourselves as it is.
Roll on 29 March.

A bit of an eye opener to say the least. France and Germany definitely hold all the aces in this club. Glad we didn't join the euro or we would be in a worse position than we are now. Hopefully in a few months we will be onlookers from the outside grateful the dirty deeds aren't being done to us.

And some posters wonder why we voted to leave.

Granygravy
We were house hunting in Greece at the time they joined the euro. As you say the increase in prices was awful.

Prices always go up with a change in currency, I remember when we changed from £sd, prices soared immediately.
The same happened all over Europe with the euro.
France and Germany contribute most which is maybe why they appear more powerful, but all have their vote, however much or little they pay.
It’s my understanding that tax avoidance in Greece was commonplace, not everyone of course but too many. Borrowing and high living was rife and a country can’t carry on like that forever.
Germans don’t generally borrow or go into personal debt (credit cards not accepted in most places and just try finding an ATM even in the biggest city) yet were paying the lions share of further loans to Greece. It was a hard sell for Merkel and it was only when Greece were told to leave if they didn’t like the conditions for further loans that they changed their minds as they wanted to stay in the EU.
I found the programme fascinating.

Let's not forget that Germany earned €2.9 billion between 2010-2017 on the Greek debt.

Indeed petra I read that too. - Germany did very well out of that debacle.

Last episode of 3 in the series tonight - it’s on BBC2 at 9pm.
It’s about the EU and immigration.