Boris Johnson and the euro brick wall

I don’t mind Boris Johnson. In fact, I voted for him as mayor of London, twice. But it has come to something when I agree with him about the euro. In his Telegraph column today he criticises the curious Cameron-Osborne-Balls consensus on which I commented the other day:

It is frankly unbelievable that we should now be urging our neighbours to go for fiscal union. It is like seeing a driver heading full-tilt for a brick wall, and then telling them to hit the accelerator rather than the brake.

I mean, I can see why David Cameron and George Osborne have to tread carefully on the sensibilities of our EU partners – although the Prime Minister has been roundly criticised for mildly pointing out that the Greeks have a choice: stay in the euro and accept the price;* or leave, devalue and go back to growth.

But Ed Balls need not be so circumspect, surely?

*Actually there is an option 1b, which is to stay in the euro, refuse to accept the terms of the bailout and wait for the Germans to make a better offer, which they will; but that promises no way out in the long run.

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• FergalFury

  Throw down, Giovanni, Broxted was right, you are a Tory at heart. Sorry ZaNuLabour (now with added human rights indifference).

• Kugelschreiber

  I used not to “MIND” Boris Johnson either, although I did not like him as  I like, admire & respect  Ken Livingstone, 

  But I went right off Boris when, a week or so ago, he started having a go at the BBC.

  He even accused the BBC of bias!  When, on Newsnight, he and the 3 other main candidates for the position of Mayor were each given a PLATFORM to express their VIEWS at LENGTH.

  What silly, immature hypocrisy & discourtesy

• Kugelschreiber

  Not keen on Boris, but I like his imagery of the “brick wall” and “acceleration”

• Kugelschreiber

  The World is a terribly complicated place nowadays, but I wonder if there’s anyone out there who could give one a SHORT but PITHY definition of “FISCAL UNION”   in the context of the European Union ?

  Something to do with the REVENUES government gathers from TAXES?