Evrópa árið 2021 - Norræna bandalagið

Sagnfræðingurinn Niall Ferguson reynir að skyggnast inn í framtíðina í grein sem var birt í Wall Street Journal fyrir nokkru.

Greinin er á léttu nótunum og er skemmtileg aflestrar.  Í stuttu máli má segja að breytingar sem Ferguson sjái séu nokkuð drjúgar.  Írland hefur sameinast Bretland og stana þau utan "Sambandsins", Ísland hefur sameinast Danmörku, Svíþjóð, Noregi og Finnlandi í Norræna bandalaginu.  Þýskaland er hins vegar ráðandi afl í USE, eða United States of Europe á meginlandinu.

Hvet alla til þess að lesa greinina sér til skemmtunar.  Læt fylgja með nokkur dæmi.

Life is still far from easy in the peripheral states of the United States of Europe (as the euro zone is now known). Unemployment in Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain has soared to 20%. But the creation of a new system of fiscal federalism in 2012 has ensured a steady stream of funds from the north European core.

Like East Germans before them, South Europeans have grown accustomed to this trade-off. With a fifth of their region's population over 65 and a fifth unemployed, people have time to enjoy the good things in life. And there are plenty of euros to be made in this gray economy, working as maids or gardeners for the Germans, all of whom now have their second homes in the sunny south.

Another thing no one had anticipated in 2011 was developments in Scandinavia. Inspired by the True Finns in Helsinki, the Swedes and Danes—who had never joined the euro—refused to accept the German proposal for a "transfer union" to bail out Southern Europe. When the energy-rich Norwegians suggested a five-country Norse League, bringing in Iceland, too, the proposal struck a chord.

Looking back on the previous 10 years, Mr. von Habsburg—still known to close associates by his royal title of Archduke Karl of Austria—could justly feel proud. Not only had the euro survived. Somehow, just a century after his grandfather's deposition, the Habsburg Empire had reconstituted itself as the United States of Europe.

Small wonder the British and the Scandinavians preferred to call it the Wholly German Empire.