Guardian
September 7, 2011
After many months of muddling through – but not getting at the systemic roots of the economic, fiscal and financial crisis – Europe is at the tipping point. If it continues any longer with the status quo of dithering instead of decisiveness, the eurozone will break up and its national economies will weaken. Only by moving forward towards full integration – now – can Europe save itself.So far, as the former Spanish prime minister Felipe González has put it, Europe's leaders have been "acting as fireman", putting out one fire after the next but not putting in place a system to prevent the next outbreak. Extend and pretend; pray and delay; kick the can down the street. These are not real and stable solutions but futile Band-Aids. Along with persistent partisan gridlock and the clear slippage of the recovery in the US, Europe's crisis of governance is dragging down the entire global economy. Stall speed is yielding to contraction and double-dip risk.
It is by now clear that short-term financial stability in Europe can only be purchased with a credible long-term strategy to complete a political and fiscal union. The incoming head of the European Central Bank, Mario Draghi, has rightly argued that Europe urgently needs to "make a quantum step up in economic and political integration". How do we get from here to there?
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