CIA predicts EU breakup

I think the CIA is off on this one. Yes, I think the
future looks dismal for Europe. But, I don't think
the EU will break up. It has an in-common hatred
for America and that will be the glue that binds.

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scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com...

Excerpt

CIA gives grim warning on European prospects

NICHOLAS CHRISTIAN
Scotlandonsunday
Jan 17, 2005

THE CIA has predicted that the European Union will break-up within 15 years unless it radically reforms its ailing welfare systems.

The report by the intelligence agency, which forecasts how the world will look in 2020, warns that Europe could be dragged into economic decline by its ageing population. It also predicts the end of Nato and post-1945 military alliances.

In a devastating indictment of EU economic prospects, the report warns: "The current EU welfare state is unsustainable and the lack of any economic revitalisation could lead to the splintering or, at worst, disintegration of the EU, undermining its ambitions to play a heavyweight international role."

It adds that the EU’s economic growth rate is dragged down by Germany and its restrictive labour laws. Reforms there - and in France and Italy to lesser extents - remain key to whether the EU as a whole can break out of its "slow-growth pattern".

The report says: "Either European countries adapt their workforces, reform their social welfare, education and tax systems, and accommodate growing immigrant populations [chiefly from Muslim countries] or they face a period of protracted economic stasis."

more info at the site -
scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com...



[edit on 1/17/2005 by FlyersFan]

Covered already FlyersFan:
C.I.A. Prediction: EU and NATO to Dissolve In 2020.

All three pages worth.



seekerof

Okay ........... nevermind then.