BBC Analysis and the possible exit of Greece from the Euro – a very poor programme
Time to think again, BBC. The UK public does not share your EU enthusiasm
BBC’s Analysis revisited the issue of Greece leaving the
eurozone last night. It was a topical and sensible decision to make such a
programme.
It is just a pity it was so poorly researched, offering so much time to
people who think the exit of Greece is both illegal and likely to prove
disastrous.
The BBC implied that leaving currency unions has been very rare. Why
haven’t they studied the 70 plus exits since 1945? Why didn’t they just
revisit their archives and discover how common it has been? Why did they
say they could only think of the split of the Czech Republic from
Slovakia where they also split currencies? Why didn’t they remember the
break-up of the 20 member
rouble
zone? Why not the successful departure of Ireland from the sterling
area? Why not the general break-up of the sterling and French franc
areas?
The BBC made out that it would be very complicated to switch money and
contracts from one currency to another. If they had studied the large
number of exits from currency unions they might have thought
differently; if they had remembered that all the same complications
existed when the 17 member states’ currencies were scrapped on entry
into the Euro, yet this happened easily. I do not recall them issuing
such warnings when Germany scrapped the
DM and France the franc.
They gave great air time to the notion that it would be illegal to
leave the Euro. This, they argued, would mean Greece would have to leave
the EU, and then would find it more difficult to trade with the EU. Why
should either of those two things happen? Presumably the rest of the EU
would still want Greece to buy their products. Greece and the rest of
the EU would still be bound by international trading rules.
Why would they seek to evict Greece from the EU if all agreed she just
needed to withdraw from the Euro and did not also wish to leave the
Union? Why didn’t the BBC consider the proposal I have published for
Greece to become an “applicant” to re-join the Euro, but only if and
when she met all the requirements in terms of state debt, inflation,
currency variation and budget deficit? There are 10 EU members who are
not Euro members – most are so called applicants to join. This gives
plenty of legal cover. When did France and Germany last worry about the
legality of mechanisms to fix the Euro? What was the legal base of the
first EU bailout fund?
The BBC’s journalists made heavy weather of the relatively
straightforward idea that Greece should have her own currency back. They
did cite the view that maybe Greece would export more from outside the
Euro, but gave this little voice and made it sound silly because they
went so heavy handed on the legalities and complexities.
Time to think again, BBC. The UK public does not share your EU
enthusiasms, so it is time to be more careful in your reporting –
especially over the facts which you mangled last night on the break-up
of currency unions.
The Rt Hon
John Redwood MP is the Member of UK Parliament for Wokingham and the
Chairman of the Conservative Economic Affairs Committee. His articles
are cross-posted on his blog by agreement
http://www.thecommentator.com/article/1227/bbc_analysis_and_the_possible_exit_of_greece_from_the_euro_a_very_poor_programme
