TAPESCRIPT Livello 3

06 – Should Britain adopt the euro

Man: You know what, I’ve been reading this newspaper article recently about whether Britain should join the euro or not. And ’course you know it’s still wavering. Uhm… I think it’s a real shame.

Woman: Really? Why do you think that? Man: Well, I think there are so many advantages for us to be joining the euro. For example…

you know… ’member all the foreign travel you did as a kid and as you’re doing now. It makes it so much easier now. You’ve just got the European, you know the euro you don’t have to worry about changing francs and exchange rates with lire and marks and all the rest of it. You’ve just got the euro… it’s fantastic! You can travel all the way across just on one single currency. And because of that as well it must help exporters and businesses in areas because it lowers the costs, again you don’t have to worry about changing currencies and all the rest of it. And uhmm… besides, if the UK were in the single currency they’d have much more, I think, political clout you know… they’d have much more political influence…uhmm… because it’s not just an economic organization, it is? It’s also political. I mean, what do you think?

Woman: Well, I don’t actually agree with you. I think… Man: Really? Woman: Yeah… I think if Britain adopted the euro, I think it would be quite expensive. I mean,

we all know that whenever anyone, any country, adopts a new currency it’s an inflationary measure. I mean, I’ve got friends in Germany and Holland and they’re always complaining to me about how expensive things have become. And in some cases, certain things are twice as expensive as they were before the euro was introduced. So, I’m not… I’m not convinced that the euro is a good idea. And apart from that, I don’t understand the logic. How can one economic and monetary policy be suitable for all the different economies of Europe? I mean, if you look at how diverse these economies are, how can one policy suit them all? That I just don’t understand. And apart from that, Britain, I think, would lose part of its sovereignty, because we no longer will have a say in certain matters, and you can’t really trust some… some countries because of all the hidden agendas that certain countries… countries have. So I don’t really think it’s a good idea. And besides, I quite like the pound. What’s wrong with the pound? It’s a nice currency! And I don’t see why we have to give it up. I think there are other that things the UK should do. So I think the longer we keep the pound the better.

Man: Yeah, well I suppose there must be a referendum coming up in the near future, so… Woman: Yeah, well I certainly hope so, ’cause I wouldn’t like a decision to be made without me

having a say in it. Man: No, no… I guess we’ll have a vote on it in the future. I suppose we’ll just have to wait

and see! Woman: Yeah, we will!