The E.U. Will Last

by Mareike Kleine & Andrew Moravcsik

New York Times
September 12, 2011

Even in the face of a severe sovereign debt crisis, the European Union remains viable.

The core of the E.U. is its single market, along with corresponding regulatory policies in areas like antitrust, consumer protection and the environment. The viability of these policies has little to do with a common culture. Member states engage in these policies in spite of stark cultural differences because, in the world’s most interdependent continent, they provide enormous material benefits for each of them. Accordingly, not a single major European politician favors withdrawal from the E.U. Indeed, a long list of applicants before Europe’s gates testifies to the continued relevance of its principal raison d’être.

European governments have a strong interest in maintaining the single currency as well. To be sure, the euro and its guardian, the European Central Bank, have been ill-conceived from the outset. The euro zone economies are too diverse for the bank's one-size-fits-all policy. Now that the E.C.B. is in place, however, no country can leave the euro zone without imposing huge costs on its own and its neighbors’ economies. This holds true especially for Germany, whose robust exports would otherwise be far more expensive and whose banks would be exposed to punishing losses.

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