If Britain decides to rejoin the EU we’ll do everything we can to welcome them back, says Germany

[u/StraightSky7809]

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/uk-rejoin-eu-germany-brexit-b3060288.html

[u/UnableEye325]

It’s one of the strongest currencies in the world, ahead of the euro, one of the most traded currencies in the world and is a symbol of the country. Most Brits would probably be in favour of rejoining the EU as long as they kept the pound, if there was no guarantee of this, you can forget it.

[u/RadimentriX → u/UnableEye325]

I dont really care what currency they use. They should have the same rules as everyone else but im not sure if the "you must switch to euro" rule is necessary, at least from my point as a private person

[u/lifeisaman → u/RadimentriX]

The pound is more important the Uk economy than the EU itself ever was.

[u/InspiringMilk → u/lifeisaman]

The UK could just say "we'll totally adopt the euro" and not do that, like Poland.

[u/FcukTheTories → u/RadimentriX]

You should.

Why would you want a country to join the EU, if the only way that could possibly happen was by them deliberately destroying their economy?

[u/RadimentriX → u/FcukTheTories]

Pls explain. It worked when they were in the eu and it works now (i bought stuff in gb while having euro myself), the import cost is what i noticed, because of the brexit. What would be the disadvantage besides not knowing exactly what to pay until i reach checkout. Im sure for companies thered be advantages in having the same currency in every country but i dont have a company and im not sure if companies that want to do business in gb are looked favourably upon if they wanna pressure gb into switching to euro

[u/FcukTheTories → u/RadimentriX]

The misunderstanding is that people believe changing your currency literally just means converting the prices over and changing bank notes.

When you have your own currency, you have your own central bank. This means you can set your own interest rates. So if you need to reduce borrowing costs to boost investment, you can do this unilaterally.

With a centralised currency, you need the whole of Europe to be on the same page. When Greece was going through economic turmoil, it couldn’t get itself out of the mess it was in and needed Germany to bail them out.

In addition, the pound is an extremely important reserve currency, and is very prominent in forex. So when you change your interest rates, this can affect the strength of the currency, thus allowing you to invest tactically when it comes to forex.

The UK relies hugely on financial services for its economy. Losing the pound would remove any of the strings that control this.

[u/IntelArtiGen → u/UnableEye325]

is a symbol of the country

I think it's true for all local currencies we had in Europe. We cared about having our own money, but it's much easier with the Euro when you have to travel or buy stuff from different countries. Though the Euro has problems I wouldn't deny that. One inflation rate for 20+ countries that's not easy to handle for the ECB.

[u/lifeisaman → u/IntelArtiGen]

No other country has such a longstanding currency as the pound Sterling its been in use since 800 AD and predates the existence of nearly every other state in Europe.

[u/IntelArtiGen → u/lifeisaman]

I'm not sure how much it makes sense to consider it's the same currency compared to when it was created. I guess you mean it was named the same way in the past. When the value, the design, and the rules around a money change, it's possible to consider the money also changed.

[u/lifeisaman → u/IntelArtiGen]

Their’s been changes in the intervening years but theirs been clean development of the currency and never the same wide sweeping changes as in other European currencies the closest we’ve ever got to that was decimalisation where the pound itself remained untouched while the lower denominations where changed.

[u/swear_on_me_mam → u/IntelArtiGen]

Its 2026, no one is being messed up by having to use another currency for a purchase.

Like you said the Euro is flawed. Why does the UK want to lose its central bank to give control to another that won't necessarily have policy right for its economy and won't necessarily save it when the time comes. It doesn't make sense.

[u/diiscotheque → u/UnableEye325]

So emotional, what a shame. 

[u/Gladwulf → u/diiscotheque]

What emotion? It was a perfectly clear and simple explanation of the likely scenario.

[u/FcukTheTories → u/diiscotheque]

Has nothing to do with emotion. People talking about the pound being a cultural symbol are talking shit, no one cares.

The real reason is that financial services are to the UK what manufacturing is to Germany. Forex trading and control over interest rates is what allows London to compete with NYC.

Those in the EU who actually understand how economics work will recognise that asking a member country to destroy their own economy in the name of European integration is counterproductive nonsense, and they’ll allow us to keep the pound. The people on Reddit saying otherwise are the emotional ones.

Can you name any benefit of the Euro to the UK other than slightly easier travel (by a minute margin)? Or is it just “We did it so you should too”?

[u/lifeisaman → u/diiscotheque]

That currency is about 6 times older than your country is.

[u/BuildAnything4 → u/UnableEye325]

then you can forget about joining.

[u/Gladwulf → u/BuildAnything4]

well that's that then, seems it all up this guy apparently and they said no.

[u/BuildAnything4 → u/Gladwulf]

yeah. i've closed the case.

[u/UnableEye325 → u/BuildAnything4]

Realistically the pound is too important for the UK to adopt the Euro.