As far as I can tell, the vast majority of people in ALL Europe do not wish to see borders changed - for a simple reason: We all have settled with the situation as it presents itself for 60 years now. Since living conditions in all countries are fairly similar, there is also no drive of stronger ones to take advantage of "minors". Who wants to work in another member country can do that almost without restrictions. Who wants to move abroad or buy property abroad can do that as well. In that regard, Europe is THE ONE AND ONLY MODEL of sort of a condominium of various ethnics that seems to work, and I thank God every day that I was born in the first peaceful period of our united continent since 1,200 years.

The same moment I say this I am afraid we are just about to begin destroying what we have built. We begin inviting countries to join "the club" that have no European identity or that wish to join only because they believe this opens access to unlimited funds from Brussels. At the same time we do not have the energy to adapt decision processes in the community to the requirements of a larger club. The Roman empire in its late stages offers a nice example that shows how disintegration was promoted under similar circumstances. Again, I have to be thankful that I will probably not witness the disintegration anymore...

Wolfgang

-----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
Von: Bill Burke [mailto:billb@...]
Gesendet: Donnerstag, 24. Februar 2005 17:54
An: BoundaryPoint@yahoogroups.com
Betreff: RE: [BoundaryPoint] eupen and malmedy

A SECOND QUESTION IS DO THE LOCAL PEOPLE NOW WISH TO BE PART OF GERMANY OR STAY AS THEY ARE?

ALSO WHAT ABOUT POOR OLD MORESNET, DON'T THEY WISH THAT THEY WERE INDEPENDANT , ANOTHER SAN MARINO OR MONACO, RIPPING US ALL OFF WITH POSTAGE STAMPS , DODGY BANKING AND ACTING AS A TAX HAVEN ETC.

I AGREE WITH WOLFGANG THE VERSAILLES TREATY STUPID PUNISHED GERMANY AND HELPED FUEL THE SECOND WORLD WAR. BUT WHAT DO THE LOCAL PEOPLE WANT NOW WHEN THERE ARE NO NEED FOR BUFFER AREAS?,

From: Wolfgang Schaub [mailto:Wolfgang.Schaub@...]
Sent: 24 February 2005 16:39
To: BoundaryPoint@yahoogroups.com
Subject: AW: [BoundaryPoint] eupen and malmedy

Bill:

Just a biased opinion (since I am German): Germany had lost WWI - not exactly on the battlefield, but we were the first to simply give up the fighting which did not seem to lead to an end. Consequently, every winning nation could take whatever was available within the limits set by important leaders such as Woodrow Wilson / U.S.A., or whatever was deemed reasonable. The result was the Traty of Versailles. So far, I don't have a "problem".

The question that is - in my opinion - more interesting to ask is the following: Why was Belgium (and France, by the way) permitted to grab MORE than the Versailles Treaty stipulated? Examples: Small pieces of land in the district of Monschau (Vennbahn etc. refers); raids in the Ruhr district.

NOTE: Treaties are usually not worth the paper that they are written on, if you deal with winners and losers. One of the many reasons why Hitler became so popular.

Wolfgang

-----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
Von: Bill Burke [mailto:billb@...]
Gesendet: Donnerstag, 24. Februar 2005 14:54
An: BoundaryPoint@yahoogroups.com
Betreff: [BoundaryPoint] eupen and malmedy

These two areas with Moresnet were transfered to Belguim in 1920 . Why was Eupen, a largely German speaking area transferred across? The TREATY OF VERSAILLES encouraged people to choose the country to which they wished to be attached eg Northern Schleswig went to Denmark, Southern Schleswig stayed in Germany. Can anyone answer this .

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