Europe is imposing capital controls… next up will be border controls.
How do we know? Because they already suggested this before.
Back in March of 2012, when the EU Crisis first began to spin out of control, then Prime Minister of France Nicolas Sarkozy openly called for the renegotiation of the Schengen Treaty: the treaty that established the 26-nation EU as a “borderless” entity in which individuals could move from one country to another with little difficulty and which also made trade among EU members easier.
France was not alone either. A few months later, both France and Germany proposed imposing border controls in June of that same year.
A Vote of No Confidence in Europe
Germany and France's joint proposal to allow Schengen-zone countries to temporarily reintroduce border controls as a means of last resort might sound harmless. But doing so would damage one of the strongest symbols of European unity and perhaps even contribute to the EU's demise.
Germany and France are serious this time. During next week's meeting of European Union interior ministers, the two countries plan to start a discussion about reintroducing national border controls within the Schengen zone. According to the German daily Süddeutsche Zeitung, German Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich and his French counterpart, Claude Guéant, have formulated a letter to their colleagues in which they call for governments to once again be allowed to control their borders as "an ultima ratio" -- that is, measure of last resort -- "and for a limited period of time." They reportedly go on to recommend 30-days for the period.
Why border controls? Well in truth, it was all about the money… specifically, physical cash. As we’ve noted before… with the vast majority of the global financial system based on digital money… the minute a significant number of depositors try to move their money OUT of a bank and INTO physical cash, the whole system can collapse.
Again, Europe was ahead of the US in terms of proposing these terms. The below article dated from 2012 outlines the plan to limit cash withdrawals, shut down ATMs, and impose border controls to stop people from fleeing with their capital.
Exclusive: EU floats worst-case plans for Greek euro exit: sources
European finance officials have discussed as a worst-case scenario limiting the size of withdrawals from ATM machines, imposing border checks and introducing capital controls in at least Greece should Athens decide to leave the euro…
As well as limiting cash withdrawals and imposing capital controls, they have discussed the possibility of suspending the Schengen agreement, which allows for visa-free travel among 26 countries, including most of the European Union.
http://money.msn.com/business-news/article.aspx?feed=OBR&date=20120611&id=15208663 [8]
What are the key takeaways from this?
1) When the next crisis hits, the Powers That Be are only too happy to let the rule of law will go out the window.
2) The biggest problem they face is STOPPING people from moving their money into physical cash.
3) To stop #2, capital controls, border controls, and even a CARRY taxes (read here for more on this [9]) will be imposed.
The next round of the great crisis is approaching. 2008 was A Crisis… what’s begun is THE Crisis.
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http://www.phoenixcapitalmarketing.com/roundtwo.html [10]
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Phoenix Capital Research
