In a shocking admission that shows just how serious the ongoing “Eurozone” crisis truly is, a Finnish official has come forward with information about how his country, which is among the strongest in the European Union (EU), plans to deal with a potential break-up of the euro. Erkki Tuomioja, Finland’s Foreign Minister, openly admits that his country is preparing for an eventual collapse of the Eurozone, and has contingency plans in place that may include reverting from the euro back to the country’s former currency.
Though Finland is relatively strong compared to many other EU member countries, it is weaker than its non-euro Scandinavian neighbors, which include Sweden, Norway, and Denmark. Each of these countries still has its own unique currency, and all of them are growing and thriving much faster than Finland, which is bound to a union currency that is constantly being dragged down by Greece, Spain, and other economically-failing countries.
European socialist system failing as “poor” countries continue to drag down “rich” countries
Rather than continue down the road of having to continually prop up these failing countries’ perpetual debt problems, a situation that other strong EU countries like Germany are also facing, Finland appears poised to potentially depart from the Eurozone in order to stymie its own prospective debacle. Numerous Finnish leaders besides Tuomioja also seem confident that it is not a question of whether or not the Eurozone will eventually break up, but rather when this will occur.
“There are no rules on how to leave the euro but it is only a matter of time,” said Timo Soini, leader of the True Finn party, to the U.K.’s Telegraph. “Either the south or the north will break away because this currency straitjacket is causing misery for millions and destroying Europe’s future. It is a total catastrophe. We are going to run out of money the way we are going. But nobody in Europe wants to be the first to get out of the euro and take all the blame.”
Finnish Prime Minister Jyrki Katainen has reportedly expressed opposition to recent proposals that will continue bailing out the struggling Southern European members of the EU at the expense of the flourishing ones. A majority of Finns sampled in a recent poll also said they were tired of Finland having to help bear the financial load for everyone else, as the continued bailouts are greatly depressing the Finnish economy.
Tuomioja also says he is leery about proposals made by the European Central Bank to enforce new austerity measures that would tie EU members into a new type of fiscal union. As quoted by the U.K.’s Telegraph, Tuomioja rightly expressed that he “[does not] trust these people,” referring to the so-called “gang of four” that includes Herman Van Rompuy of the European Council; Mario Draghi of the European Central Bank; Jose Manuel Barroso of the European Commission; and Jean-Claude Juncker of the 17-country eurogroup.
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