In this past week’s class, we discussed how the European Central Bank is heavily based on the German philosophy of fighting inflation at all costs. Germany is very proud of their economic strength and financial prowess, as well they should be. They are currently the glue that holds the European Union together.
The problem, therefore, lies in their interactions with their less efficient European counterparts. I just recently traveled around Spain for a week and was totally caught off-guard by their lifestyle. Hardly nothing stirred before 9 am and then, following this slow and leisurely start, only a few hours of work were accomplished before a lengthy lunch and siesta break. I understand that this is a defining characteristic of the Spanish culture, and that is all well and good—until you impose the same fiscal requirements on and expect the same efficiencies from Spain that you would from Germany.
It is the same with Greece. They already started out behind since they effectively cheated to join the Eurozone, a deficit from which they never seemed to be able to rally. Beyond that, however, they simply cannot keep up with the German pace. Their economy, their people, and their centuries-old lifestyle is simply not cut out for the job.
With this in mind, I am not sure that the European Union is sustainable, at least not under its current structure. Both fiercely prideful of their respective lifestyles, neither the Greeks nor the Germans seem willing to yield. I believe this North-South divide will continue to plague the European Union well into the future.
You have raised some good points about how Spain's culture affects their economy, but I disagree on some parts of your argument. Although the day may start around 9 am in Spain, the meal times and schedules are shifted back accordingly. Lunch is at 3 pm and dinner is around 10 pm. Although many businesses are closed between 3 and 5 pm for lunch and siesta, they stay open later into the night to compensate for that.When I traveled to Scotland, my friends and I went out for dinner around 9 pm and were surprised to see that all of the stores were closed, few people were walking around, and few restaurants were open. Around 9 pm in Spain, the cities are lively and almost everything is open. If you want to buy gelato or go out for tapas at 12 am, you won't have difficulty finding a place that's open. I think that the economic problems in Spain stem more from the governmental problems that the country has encountered. From 1939-1975, Spain was ruled by a dictator, which isolated Spain from trade and relations with democratic nations and repelled tourists. After 1975, Spain converted into a democratic nation, but the government has been filled with corruption and fraud. Worsening this situation, in order for a party to have control over parliament and therefore choose the president, that party needs to have an absolute majority. In the elections of 2015, no party received an absolute majority and none would form a pact to consolidate their votes. The elections were repeated in 2016, in which two the parties consolidated their votes so that elections would not have to be repeated a third time. However, that process negatively impacted Spain because between the elections of 2015 and 2016, the government could not pass laws.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the information, Rachel! I should've done more research into both Spain's political and economic history before making assumptions based on just a week in the country. I appreciate your insight!
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