August 6, 2011
Warm and languid, yet pregnant with autumn, August is the time for many Europeans to forget their cares. Factories and businesses across much of the continent shut down. Governments all but stop as ministers take a break. Even Charlemagne likes to sign off for a while. It is a time, too, when citizens might reconsider their reservations about European integration.
The Mediterranean, which had burdened northerners for over a year of sovereign-debt woes, can be rediscovered for its delights. Slow economic growth may not seem so bad when you can enjoy slow living under the Tuscan sun. Poor productivity in southern Europe suddenly pales next to its contribution to legend and history. By the waters of the Aegean, how angry can you be with the Greeks, who bequeathed the very name Europa?
Just a few months ago Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, admonished southerners for being lazy: “We can’t have a common currency where some get lots of holiday time and others very little.” But it is the Germans trekking southward in their caravans who enjoy some of the longest vacations in Europe. By law, they get to work fewer hours per year than southerners.
On holiday the euro reverts from curse to blessing; no more need to give money-changers a cut at every frontier. The passport-free Schengen area, often criticised as opening the doors to migrants, now makes for smoother trips. And, as they phone home, holiday-makers might even mutter a word of thanks for the European Commission’s work to force down outrageous mobile-roaming fees.
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