Indeed, anything as big as the collapse of the Eurozone would be an economic shock of global proportions. Whether the EU slowly falls to bits or staggers on indefinitely, we could have enjoyed full access to the Single Market, safe from any supranational shenanigans. If the EU is doomed, we shouldn’t assume that its demise will be gradual and therefore manageable. Indeed, there’s something vulture-like about waiting for a community you’ve chosen to be part of to topple over. The move could force Johnson to seek a three-month delay to Brexit.Johnson has repeatedly insisted he would not seek to further delay Britain's exit from the EU, saying on Thursday that he would rather be "Brexit remains a deeply divisive issue in the U.K., more than three years after the world's fifth-largest economy voted to leave the bloc. Indeed, his work often attracts the fury of the intellectual Left, in particular his defence of the British Empire. Angela Merkel is standing in his way. Boris Johnson's only way out of Brexit chaos is to resign, Niall Ferguson says Published Fri, Sep 6 2019 4:42 AM EDT Updated Fri, Sep 6 2019 8:23 AM EDT Sam Meredith @smeredith19 By continuing to use our site you are agreeing to our cookies policy.
Historian Niall Ferguson writes in this week's cover piece that, even before coronavirus, the Cold War between America and China was already getting underway. In the modern world, multi-national political entities have a habit of going out with a bang not a whimper — Yugoslavia, the Soviet Union, various European colonial empires, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Ottoman Empire. Remember the starting point for so much euroscepticism was ‘it’s becoming a superstate’.”In other words, why bother leaving the EU when we can just wait for it to fade away?Current events in Europe would appear to support Ferguson’s case. Instead, we opted for the trauma of Brexit: “Seems like we’ve just wasted so much political capital on this divorce and we’re divorcing a slowly decomposing spouse.”One can, of course, object to Ferguson’s pessimism about the EU’s vitality (not to mention the ickiness of that final metaphor). A rift is growing between France and Germany over the future direction of the EU. If that is not something we feel we can give, then our place is elsewhere.We welcome applications to contribute to UnHerd – please fill out the form below including examples of your previously published work. That was what we saw in Brexit,” he said. "As long as the opposition parties can maintain unity and coordinate with his opponents within the Tory party, I don't think he has any alternative but to resign," Ferguson said.Got a confidential news tip? Of course, the EU is neither an empire nor riven by war; but arguably it’s more easily collapsable, because national governments are already in place to (re)absorb the EU’s functions.The dissolution of the single currency, however, would be a deeply disruptive event. We’ve already had one Eurozone crisis; if the single currency comes under threat again, then significant movement towards fiscal union may be judged a price worth paying to save the European project (the crushing of Greece was judged worth it last time).But what if it isn’t saved? As David Cameron found out to his cost, these fundamentals are non-negotiable, while opt-outs and concessions to member states cannot be guaranteed — as the erosion of the UK’s rebate demonstrates.Ferguson’s talk of slow disintegration is therefore misleading. Angela Merkel’s time in office is running out; Emmanuel Macron’s is not.
The UK has its own currency, but, in the event of a Eurozone collapse, being in the Single Market would expose us to destabilising flows of capital looking for a safe haven, followed by large numbers of EU citizens looking for a job.Admittedly, Britain outside of the EU would not be immune to serious troubles within the EU. Take it from a divorcee: Brexit will cost you dear.
Niall Ferguson (historian and author) joins Dave to discuss his background, his thoughts on the Intellectual Dark Web, the culture war that he and his wife Ayaan Hirsi Ali are fighting, his views on Brexit, Donald Trump, and more. His comments come at a time of heightened political uncertainty in the U.K., with the new prime minister under immense pressure to deliver Brexit with 55 days to go before the country is scheduled to leave the European Union.When asked whether Boris Johnson and Dominic Cummings, the adviser behind the prime minister's high-stakes Brexit strategy, had overplayed their hand, Ferguson replied: "I think that they played a game of 'chicken,' not only with the Europeans but with their opponents in parliament and they lost.
""He is under house arrest in number 10 Downing Street with power having entirely shifted to the House of Commons.
We should either give the project our all or find a new national purpose.Britain should always be the best of friends to our neighbours, but the European Union is not a friendship group, it is a family — and family requires love, loyalty and sacrifice. Remember that the Ferguson case isn’t just that the superstate won’t happen, but that the EU is ultimately doomed. Niall Ferguson “The European elite’s performance over the last decade entirely justified the revolt of provincial England.