12 February 2012
A few years ago, a British writer wrote a book called ‘Why Europe will Run the 21st Century. It was a silly title then and looks even more ridiculous now. Nevertheless, the author and his hubristic opinions seemed to have captured a moment in time.
Move on seven years and German Chancellor Angela Merkel – with no small measure of anxiety and frustration, claims that the failure of the Euro will be the end of Europe. Is Greece’s economic mismanagement and unsustainable debt a catastrophe of such proportions that it threatens an EU construct built up over half a century and more?
It is exceedingly difficult at times to absolve the Greeks – governments and citizens – for what has befallen them. The impression given – and one that is not entirely without substance – is of a country that spent far beyond its means and lived off subsidies and loans. The situation has been exacerbated by the failure of central government to govern properly – to fulfil its obligations as a member of the Eurozone, to efficiently collect taxes and to stamp out cronyism and corruption. It’s difficult to escape the conclusion that a country gets the government it deserves!
Yet others contributed in no small part to this failure. The EU has more than a few guilty men, including those who designed and implemented a flawed currency system, those who ignored the falsification of the economic and financial data upon which Greece’s entry to the Euro was based and those in the European Commission who failed to punish Greece’s budgetary mismanagement earlier because Germany and France had done likewise and escaped punishment. A Greek tragedy yes but of European proportions.
Yet can this situation justify or explain Angela Merkel’s angst? In short – no, it cannot. Concern over Greece is certainly justified but it is the wider European project that is under threat and no amount of soft loans will ease the pain.
For too long, the EU and its elite have deceived themselves. Every instance of ‘solidarity’ was trumpeted as an indicator of a new Europe and success. Every setback was denied, massaged over or blatantly ignored. Whether it was the single market and Schengen, enlargement or the Euro, nothing was allowed to disturb the karma of sweetness and light and progress. Much of the liberal media sustained this deception.The trickle of public referenda that continued to indicate that the EU elite were pursuing policies with less than solid public backing were simply run again until such times as the answer was more suitable or the people were simply not consulted.
This deception has come back to haunt us. The people of Europe were deceived into thinking that a European social and economic model could be self-sustaining without excessive borrowing, higher taxes and longer working days. Today’s debt crisis is part of that shattered dream. The Schengen system of open borders has exposed the Union to unwanted and unwelcome bouts of mass migration which the authorities seem powerless to prevent and the fatigue and dissatisfaction linked to enlargement is all too obvious. Croatia is likely to be the last new member for some time and Turkey’s application has undoubtedly been lost in the post.
Abroad, few if any care about the EU’s ‘exceptionalism’. Europe’s inability to project ‘hard power’ and be a world leader is now equally matched by the dilution of its soft power, the ability to influence. The EU’s fascination with human rights and legal process is mocked in Moscow, Beijing and Rio as being self-righteous and self-indulgent. The recent spectacle of EU officials begging for financial bailouts from the likes of China and Brazil is nothing short of humiliating.
The EU will not fall overnight but for many Europhiles, the game is up. We should start getting used it.