October 22, 2011
Angela Merkel is telling the world not to expect the October 23rd summit to resolve the euro crisis at a stroke; such “dreams”, says the chancellor’s spokesman, cannot be fulfilled. She has a different dream: to remake the euro zone in Germany’s image, with tough rules to restrict government spending and legal powers to intervene in national policies if countries go astray.
To achieve this, she wants to reopen the European Union’s treaties. If necessary, she has confided privately, she is ready to rewrite Germany’s constitution to allow a leap in European integration. Leave aside the question of whether such a revolution is sensible or feasible; or the danger that a new treaty may open the way for the joint Eurobonds that Germany resists. The bigger peril is that a rush to create Kerneuropa (“core Europe”) may fracture the EU between 17 “ins” and ten “outs”, potentially damaging the single market on which the prosperity of both groups rests.
“It’s a mirage. The Germans are losing their heads,” says one senior diplomat. Any new treaty, especially one that intrudes on national sovereignty, will be nigh impossible to negotiate and ratify quickly. And how would changing the treaties in, say, five years’ time, save the euro from collapsing in the next five months? Mario Monti, a former European commissioner, speaks for many when he says that treaty change could be a “distraction from, or even the destruction of” current efforts to salvage the euro.
More
No comments:
Post a Comment