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Not an economist. 
personally I think if EU start tax Northern European, then use the money for south europe "welfare", the backlash would make American Tea Party look sane. far-right party would win every election in North Europe. even now northern europe public and press is not supporting bailout to PIIGS (Portugal, Italy, ireland, Greece, spain).
edited 27th May '11 2:28:41 AM by PhilippeO
The Shadows Devour You.
The EU already has a regional investement fund used to help develop underdeveloped regions in Europe.
Public Servant
One of the criticisms made by federalists is that the EU does not have a common or harmonized fiscal policy, which seems to be the next logical step in European Union integration. There is a framework in which individual member states implement their fiscal policies and must adhere to a series of specific procedures and rules. The most important of these relates to the debt and excessive deficit of member states. The Stability and Growth Pact for example says that member states must limit their deficit to 3% of GDP in any year and the public debt-to-GDP ratio to 60%.
You really need to cool down your euroskepticism. You are laying out the problem in a very simplistic way, without mentioning that the EU does not "tax" anything, since it can't. And like the above poster said, there is already a Regional Policy which includes the Cohesion Fund, the Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund and the Solidarity Fund. And I don't appreciate the acronym "PIIGS" to describe Southern European countries, so please leave it out.
As for the protests in Spain, their demands are many and are not exclusively economic. The protests themselves have been organized using social media such as Facebook. The name of the movement is called "Democracia Real Ya", which means "real democracy now". So you can guess that it's not just about youth unemployment what they're concerned about.
edited 27th May '11 5:41:35 AM by germi91
"It is true that we are called a democracy, for the administration is in the hands of the many and not of the few."
Pro-Freedom Fanatic
The two party system in Spain is as horribly broken as in the US.
Their centre-left has been implementing quite right-wing policy, social and economic. And the alternative is a party that is much further to the right.
Of course, Spanish youth as a whole feel disfranchised.
And we (Americans, Spaniards, most EU countries...) won't get out of the centre-right social-democrats/much more right wing official conservatives... unless someone devises a way to break up the two-party system completely. Brits had a good idea with AV, but it lost. There's no way out in sight.
edited 27th May '11 6:13:48 AM by SavageHeathen
You exist because we allow it and you will end because we demand it.
FABRICATI DIEM, PVNC!
Most European countries seem to have something other than a two-party system. France and Italy do, as does Spain and the UK also used to have one (now it's basically 3-party).
The German Bundestag has 2 really big parties and 3 medium-sized ones that are big enough to make it a multi-party system with about 4 or 5 parties with a solid chance of getting seats in the government.
The Netherlands have 4 big parties.
Finland has 4 big parties and every government includes 2 or 3 small ones plus 3 big ones or 2 big ones plus almost all of the smaller parties (we used to have 3 big parties, with the two largest ones forming a government and inviting a couple of smaller parties to make the majority big enough, but in the last election, one of the small ones turned in to the 3rd-largest party.)
Sweden has 2 really big parties and many medium-sized ones.
I picked those countries at random, just the first ones that popped to mind.
Quod gratis asseritur, gratis negatur.
^^ Culturally, multiparty systems in the US won't really work. We had multiparty once before, but culturally and politically it fell out of favor in the 1850s. Good luck changing that with a 160 year old cultural stigma against the parliamentarian style of multiparty systems.
In Europe, that cultural stigma against multiparty systems never emerged in many countries.
But neither the two party system in Spain nor the US is the topic.
Pro-Freedom Fanatic
That's true, Best Of.
Still, Spain has a bunch of small regional parties and an actual Left that is actively screwed over by the electoral law. For perspective: PSOE and PP get roughly 8-10 million votes each. The Left gets roughly a million and a half.
PSOE and PP get 100-something seats each. The Left gets 3-5. Proportionally, it should get three times that.
The protests demand real democracy, and most of Spain's youth is left-leaning. An electoral system that actively screws not-so-small national parties is part of their complaints.
edited 27th May '11 7:19:06 AM by SavageHeathen
You exist because we allow it and you will end because we demand it.
So what they want is representation of their views at the policy level, not a fundemental change in the political process.
More news links:
http://roarmag.org/2011/05/m-15-manifesto-real-democracy-now-spanish-revolution-protests/
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/europe/05/21/spain.protests/index.html
http://worldcnnnews.com/french-protest-forthcoming-g-8-summit.html
Is that cake frosting?
About Greece, I would be curious to hear the opinion of a pro-protesters source. Everything I have been reading so far goes "those lazy entitled Greeks, their country is in economic ruins and they are protesting against budget cuts".
But I have to wonder if the protesters do not have some actual point. What cuts are being made? How much are they going to affect the poorer parts of their population, and how much are they going to affect the people who are responsible for this whole mess?
I do not know the details, but depending on them I could see people getting legitimately pissed over this.
edited 15th Jun '11 11:43:48 PM by Carciofus
But they seem to know where they are going, the ones who walk away from Omelas.
Even so, with all these protests and riots and stuff, Europe (well the EU) remains the 3rd or 4th biggest economy - it's the fact that Europe (contrary to some... people) isn't one country. I'm not advocating the Union of European States - Britain doesn't even want to be in the EU proper - but to write off the entire EU as a failure is stupid. The PIGS have seasonal-based economies - e.g. tourism, building - whereas those in N. Europe have fiscal, manufacturing and service based economies.
The EU is a financial body. It was originally called the European Economic Community.
The mainstream parties are not representing the views of the majority and especially the youth. In Britain back in 2010 during the Gen. Election, most of the youth were voting for the Lib Dems (well, in mind they were), but when they joined the coalition, it was an immediate dissatisfaction. Political and economic reform is hard to get by, when the majority of the electorate are - to be blunt - huge idiots.
I would suggest that we go to PR, but I think the anti-PR side would say 'Hitler got elected under PR' which is true, but because the Wiemar was weak, and Hitler didn't get a majority.
Considering the topic is protests in Europe, we've had street protests where people were demonstrating against corporate tax avoiders (or evaders, whatever), and hundreds of people were arrested and charged (with a criminal record) for doing nothing, and only a handful of nutjobs were being dicks. It appears that protests are devalued because of huge douchebags trying to wreck up the place. Protests, sadly, even in our modern democracies, do not work, because the gov't don't listen at all.
No, biggest. No qualifiers. For some reason surprisingly few people realize this.
My point still remains. Thanks for the correction.
FABRICATI DIEM, PVNC!
Germany used to be number 3 (behind the US and Japan) but recently China's economy went past Germany, though the Chinese are suspected to be misreporting their statistics (you know, like they have been since approximately 1949.)
The EU is easily the biggest economy in the world, unless you count "the world" as a single economy.
Quod gratis asseritur, gratis negatur.
OMG NO NOSECONES
World Economy Ranked #1 on Earth
That sounds like an Onion news piece.
Happiness is zero-gee with a sinus cold.
Violence Is Necessary!
... And all it took was being fed up with a currency that was hurting them, more than helping.
Good read, BTW.
edited 5th Oct '11 12:52:05 PM by LostAnarchist
This is where I, the Vampire Mistress, proudly reside: http://liberal.nationstates.net/nation=nova_nacio
What about a fiscal union? Its pretty much the only level of economic integration the Europeans haven't taken yet. Bearing in mind, I have only heard this on the sly, and I know next to nothing about economic so I haven't a clue about the validity. As such, are there any Europeans/economists (or both) in the know who could comment on the idea?