Financial Times
May 15, 2012
For more than 20 years, Jean-Claude Piris was one of the most powerful men in Brussels, a top EU lawyer who almost singlehandedly authored the series of international treaties that took a loosely affiliated community of 12 to a quasi-political union of 27, complete with its own currency.
So when Mr Piris retired last year and published a book arguing the EU had grown too large too quickly, it set off a firestorm among the euorocracy. “To blame us for the imprudent lending within the eurozone, we just find that offensive nonsense,” said a senior minister from a newer, central European member state.
But Mr Piris’ theory that the EU should develop a “hard core” among a smaller, more integrated group of eurozone countries could soon be put to the test. If Greece were to exit the euro, Mr Piris believes, other member states would be forced to integrate their economies and fiscal institutions even more closely to fend off the inevitable attack from panicky markets.
“If the Greeks leave, the reaction of people in charge – the intelligentsia and groups of leaders and partners – will be towards . . . a more unified monetary union,” Mr Piris said in an interview. “It’s the only solution to convince the markets.”
More
No comments:
Post a Comment