What does the German French attack on our corpo tax rate say about lisbon 2 sham? After all you suckers who voted for Lisbon 2 were offered binding assurances.
SUCKERS.
This is populist and overly simplified rethoric. Certainly the Lisbon treaty contained guarantees, but this was before the economic crisis highlighted the inherent problems in the Euro, namely the absence of a truly single market & tax harmonisation to make the Euro work effectively. The EU is not like the USA (or other single coherent currency areas) inasmuch as it is a single entity with a singular economic cycle, an integrated economy and easy movement of population. It is a supernational entity attempting to impose a one size fits all monetary policy to divergent economies and economic policies.
This is problematic and needs to be addressed, it was always the case that these problems would arise at some point and need to be addressed. Both the German & French founders of the Euro, Mitterand & Kohl, understood that a crisis would arise, and hoped that this would force Europe into greater political & monetary union *. This of course was the original intent of the founding Rome treaty, so in a sense, the crisis we are now in was orchestrated.
This is not to say that we must be forced to abandon our corp. tax rate or even that we should abandon it. Continental Europe has an inherent advantage economically because it is a continent with an intergrated economy. We are peripheral and reliant on large FDI and hence need the advantage of the rate. This is a solid argument. It is also the case that were our rate to disappear, the foreign firms would be lost to the EU altogether. Again, another solid argument.
But none of these arguments take away from a need to undepin the currency more effectively and deal with the problems that have arisen in a coherent way. This is a Europe -wide
fiscal & political problem, and needs to be addressed rationally without resort to emotive, populist and unhelpful descriptions such as "SUCKERS", "Lisbon sham" or Sarkozy histrionics which highlight the problem, but offer no effective solutions beyond ranting newspaper banner & blog hysterics. It's a problem, we need to address it, lets address it, because we all need and want to find the best solution to fix it. If we're going to debate it, then let's debate it rationally,
respectfully and meaningfully. With an awareness that others may hold equally valid & contary views to our own.
* The Euro: The Politics of the New Global Currency: Marsh, David (2009).