No French exit - Bangkok Post

Re: "Cost of living is not the same as inflation", (Opinion, Oct 29).

Economist Chartchai Parasuk questions whether France might be better off leaving the European Union. However, given that France is a financial millstone for the EU, a "Frexit" remains a total pipe dream for four reasons.

First, as a proud and key founding member, France will never abandon the EU.

Second, it will not kill the goose that lays the golden eggs. France is the top recipient of EU agricultural subsidies, netting roughly €9.5 billion (58.9 billion baht). Without this massive influx of funding, its net contribution to the EU would be much higher.

Third, the French economy gains immensely from both the open European market and the stability provided by the euro.

Fourth, as the eurozone's second-largest economy, France is "too big to fail". In the event of a meltdown, the EU would be forced to bail it out to prevent the entire European project and the euro house of cards from collapsing.

Furthermore, even after intense political battles to enact pension reforms that raised the retirement age from 62 to 64, France still maintains one of the lowest retirement thresholds in Europe.

Therefore, France will never voluntarily leave the EU. It simply suits them too well to have the EU clean up their messes and rescue them from a self-inflicted financial quagmire.