What is the view of the Eurocrisis as seen from the dining table at Park House? As you may imagine, this is currently a hot topic and dominates our discussions as we enjoy a tender slice of locally shot wild duck, a tasty caper sauce and one or two of those excellent bottles of dark Chilean Merlot, followed by Jeannette's mouth-wateringly delicious meringue and raspberry pudding.
View from the UK:
Remember when everyone said it was only a matter of time before the UK capitulated and joined the Euro? We said it would all end in tears. The only problem is that most of our trade is with the Eurozone and if that goes down so do we. And if things are so bad, can someone please explain why the pound hasn't risen against the Euro? A few years ago a Euro was worth 61p, now it's worth 81p. Maybe we're in a bigger mess than the rest of you ....
View from Germany:
We're OK - industry is holding up well, we are selling our cars, machine tools and heavy equipment. If Europe doesn't want to buy them, China does. For the rest, it's up to the politicians. We don't see why we should be paying for Greeks to retire at 50 and to enjoy gold-plated pensions, but the government will sort it out and we will get on with the job of making the best cars, machine tools, and heavy equipment in the world.
View from France:
We hold the EU presidency at the moment so it's our job to make sure that things stabilise fast. It's all very worrying and just at the time when Carla's not getting enough sleep at night due to Sarko Jnr. It does make us a bit irritable - we even warned that smooth Mr Cameron to stop telling us what to do. He's not one of us and his economy is not in such great shape either. Thank goodness for dear Frau M - everyone needs someone to love.
View from Spain:
Of course we're up to our necks in debt. This was the whole point of joining the single market - we needed money for that wonderful shopping spree which financed Olympics, Expos, motorways and has given us the highest number of high speed train lines in Europe. Oh, and we did quite a lot of house building too. Wonderful little apartments with a view of the sea.
View from Italy:
We've been waiting for someone to take control. We don't know why but we just can't stop ourselves from voting for the wrong person. No-one actually admits voting for Mr B but a lot of people must have done so, as he's been in power for 20 years. Our personal level of debt is small - smaller than Germany's (remember those poor bamboccioni) it's just government debt which is so enormous. Where on earth has all the money gone? Let's hope the technocrats can sort it out - we never had any faith in elected politicians anyway.
View from Russia:
We just hope you will be able to continue buying our gas - we need your money so that we can buy up London and keep that wonderful little store afloat. Harrods I think it's called. Let's hope for another cold winter in Europe. It's nice and warm in St Barts, though.
View from Argentina:
Buy dollars - we do!
That's all for this week ... Euroblog to be continued
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