Concerning Europe

I am not exactly a well informed and well educated person, where politics are concerned. Especially the finer points of diplomacy and international relations are completely lost on me.
But the discussions surrounding the european currency and by extend the european union as a whole over the last year make me ashamed to be german.
Everyone who thinks that helping those european countries in financieal difficulties is wrong is stupid, plain and simple.
Even worse, there are a growing number of people who think that the Euro as a currency was a bad idea and that we should go back to the good old Deutsche Mark. Now I know that there are always idiots proclaiming what ever bullshit just came into their empty heads, but what really frightens me is the sheer number of people following that particular idiocy and the ammount of publicity they get.
Personally I have profited from the common currency numberless times, in small and insignificant ways, like not having to change money and being able to buy stuff in other countries without any hassle.
Of course, this is no big deal and with credit cards, services like PayPal and other cool things brought to us by the modern times this would have even been possible with different systems of money (after all, I buy stuff in England or the USA). But let's face it, the rates of exchange for the DM would have been nothing like those for the Euro over the last couple of years.
Putting my narrow viewpoint aside, the common currency for all of Europe has been a great thing for our economy and thereby also for all people living and working in that economy. At least it should have been.
What we see now, however, is the reaction of small-minded people who behave as if they have gotten nothing out of the deal but now have to pay for the great living their neighbours had over the last ten years. And our political leaders do nothing to change this opinion, even further these sentiments.
This is very dangerous indeed and in my view shows a general lack of farsight, vision and will to work for the best of our country (as if any further proof was needed that our politicians mostly work for themselves and not for us).

What this all comes down to is the fact that most germans don't see the Euro and by extend the EU as a good thing. For a country that has profited largely from both, this is remarkable and merits a closer look. Why do so few people see the good Euro and EU have brought us?
There are several reasons, I think, some more obvious, some less and all not proven and completely my personal opinion.
The first reason is the lack of communication between Europe and its countries and citicens. Nothing new there, but it must be repeated, until maybe some day someone does something about it.
The EU does reglement a large part of our life, but no one explains to us (the citicens), why this is so. This leads to a lack of understanding for the EU and the low participation in european elections. To be fair, not everything decided by the EU is good for everyone, but if no one knows what those in charge are doing, no one can make his opinion heard until it is too late.
Europa needs to ramp up its advertisement with its own citicens sooner than later, telling them, why it is a good idea to be in the EU and what this EU is all about.

The second reason for the feeling that the Euro as a currency has not helped our economy might be the fact that most of the benefits reaped by the companies are not passed on to their employees, so they don't know how good the common currency has been for them (or at least their employers). This touches on another subject I'm even less qualified to talk about, so I'll leave it at that.

Now, the job of any good political leader in such a time would be to communicate the benefits of Europa and the Euro to the people, explaining to them, why it is not only important, but also morally correct to help the other partners in this community of states. But our politicians sacrifice all this for small-time gains in the race for the next election, not thinking of the future, or if htey do, not acting according to their thoughts.
But come to think of it, why should I expect any german to understand why it is necessary and right to help the irish or greek, when most of them not even understood why it would be a good idea to help their own countrymen after 1990?

Ok, trying to come to some point after this incoherent rambling, I can only say that I am fully supporting anything that needs to be done to make the EU and the Euro secure and further break down the barriers between the different states in this union. And I am pissed off to no end by the way our "leaders" handle the current situation.