Everybody knows, economic crisis has hit (not only) Europe. And as everybody knows, EU leaders have this quite obscure habit to hold summits in tough times. Same thing happened this Sunday, summit’s conclusion was headlined by the BBC: EU ‘consensus’ to tackle crisis. Too less irony or way to much cynicism in this headline.
Debate is still going on about who are the winners and losers of the “plan” proposed after the summit, and how long (or how much in the sense of lost jobs, bankrupts of banks and local producers) will it take for eurozone countries to agree with a steps proposed by Hungary (good blog in the link btw.) - maybe a little bit less radical, and written in less anxious language.
Meanwhile, another debate has (re)started- debate about the disappointment (east with west or new with old or not-euro with euro countries, etc.) which could possibly lead to break- up of the whole Union. What one sees as strict observance of rules on which EU is standing (expect for the fact these rules are being circumvented on the daily basis maybe from the very time they have been introduced), another sees as lack of solidarity in the times when most needed.
Of course, some critical points toward Hungarian proposal have to be presented: why should “disciplined” countries pay for someones ability to nearly bankrupt public financial system?
Unavoidable question is: what should be done now in order to prevent similar thing to happen in the future?
Timothy Garton Ash in the article in Guardian writes (worth reading):
“It is clear is that we cannot stay where we are. If we don’t go forwards we will go backwards. Forwards not, I emphasise, to some idealised United States of Europe, but to a practical construction strong enough to weather the storm. Whether we achieve that will depend on three things: global forces beyond our control, the quality of European leaders, and the space and trust they are afforded by their national electorates.”
What counts is what voters want their representatives should do.
Would you agree with creating a single european body which would coordinate economic matters? Should this be one of the goals of integration?
(10 votes, average: 4.30 out of 5)
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Apparently the Hungarian plan was not endorsed by the rest of the Eastern European countries which had a separate meeting a couple of days before the summit. Did the press report that adequately? Is it fair to say that there is a East-West divide?
This being said I think the EU should aim for bold decisions regarding the economic situation. It is a shame that Barroso does not believe in such a thing…