German Chancellor, Angela Merkel and the British Prime Minister, David Cameron are set to meet later today to discuss EU reforms and the economy. What do you think should be the focus of their agenda? Personally, I would like to see them talk about job creation and reducing the cost of items such as food and power. I believe that the economy can only really recover if people have more disposable income - something that will only come with increased employment and a lower cost of living. What does everyone else think? Or are these meetings just a waste of time and taxpayer's money?
Well I do agree about people having more disposable income. But I disagree with you about how it should be done. Increased employment... sure. But a lower cost of living is almost impossible to achieve, unless the government starts subsidizing everydat things such as fuel, housing and electricity. And that never leads to anything good. The easiest, fastest and most effective way to increase disposable income is to lower certain taxes. But it's not like that will happen anytime soon...
What I'm sure of is immigration reforms is what they will discuss. I'm not for or against immigration [I don't even live in Europe so this hardly concerns me] but because most Europeans are against immigration, then discussing ways they can fix the problem before they start losing the support of the people who elected them [Cameron] would indicate to the disgruntled people that the EU actually does want to change for the better and talk about referendums, leaving the EU, etc might cease.
I'm not sure whether it really matters that much. The way it's looking, Cameron will be out on his ear after the election in May anyway. And even if he isn't, the likelihood is he'll be in a situation where he can't negotiate much with the EU at all, given the rise of UKIP.
I am expecting nothing from these talks, most likely they will discuss something of mutual interest to their countries, but the EU and the people living there are pretty much stuck economically.
