European unity is at risk
The risk of a eurozone breakup should no longer be underestimated. Berlin officials and powerful bureaucrats in Brussels deem that the countries of the European Union must adopt the German model of strict fiscal discipline so that Europe can become competitive on a global scale.
That?s easier said than done, of course. Europeans are accustomed to a generous welfare state and a certain standard of living that they are not prepared to give up. Moreover, the trade unions, the media and the various pressure groups would resist the transition from the current model to a more Teutonic one, as it were.
Meanwhile, the markets see a need for violent changes to European societies and economies. But they can also tell their inability to carry these changes out in a smooth and timely manner.
So, on one hand there is Germany, which would like us to become a little bit more German. On the other, there are the markets, which are betting their money on the failure of this experiment.
The ill mood among European leaders is easy to see. French President Nicolas Sarkozy berated British Prime Minister David Cameron, while German Chancellor Angela Merkel again with Sarkozy openly scorned Italian leader Silvio Berlusconi.
Europe is in crisis; a big crisis that is testing the limits of social solidarity — but which could also be the tombstone on the euro project. It?s easy to see the return of nationalism and harmful stereotypes among big European nations.
Everyone realizes that the EU faces a huge problem in dealing with crises and taking swift decisions. Germany, on the one hand, is in favor of quick and simple solutions — like it did after the war in former Yugoslavia or the premature expansion of the EU bloc. On the other, there is a paralyzing, overly democratic decision-making process, in which a domestic crisis in Finland can suddenly block very crucial decisions.
Europe has shown in the past that it is capable of overcoming a crisis, even if it does so at a slow, almost tortuous pace. Let?s hope that it will be able to do so again. And, of course, let?s hope that this will not happen at the expense of our country. Because meanwhile, the argument gaining ground among European capitals is that Greece is not a problem, simply because there is no solution.
