THE EURO INVOLVES A MORAL QUESTION
Will the euro in its current form survive the crisis that pierces its foundations? My response is disillusioned and negative. The contemporary euro only still exists in the illusions of some that, with their noses on the event, should step out of their torpor.
Of course there are technical phenomena that underlie this intuition. There are well- acknowledged: globalization, knowledge centre migration towards Asia and the United States, growing divergence between Northern and Southern European economies, gigantic public debts, the end of welfare states that no longer create wealth and the outcome of artificial growth blown up by loans.
These elements are a mess. Nevertheless, there is something a lot worse: the absence of a unifying process, i.e. of a superior concept that, beyond monetary values, arouses collective morale adhesion.
Let’s realise that the Euro crisis is from now on being given rhythm - following complete political cacophony - by the sibylline proposals of the ECB president, on the lips of whom all markets hangs? Let’s become aware of the lowness of some European leaders, limiting themselves to looking for godsend media effects? Yet, the situation is serious: who could have imagined that Nazi flags were to be burnt in Athens or that an Italian newspaper were to make reference to the 4th Reich?
Confidence in the European idea is flaking off. The postulate of a single currency that would bring political economy homogeneity turns out to be a decoy. In fact, money no longer cements populations. On the contrary, its unifying makes some specific (political, cultural, racial) groups rebound on the fact that various national currencies could have, before 1999, confined themselves to each country’s borders. Regionalisms and populisms are shown even more easily when there are no longer being confined by the defence of a national currency.
We cannot be mistaken: it’s the political element that is the primary factor behind the disintegration of the euro. Despite the fact that individual governments evoke the necessity of constitutional advances, a renewal of community structures has not arisen. It was only the European administrative body that was reinforced, facing the risk of having it turned plethoric and loathsome.
Truly, the individual States remain more powerful than the European meta structures. They are never amenable to whichever sovereignty abandonment, sacrificing the Westphalian approach of Europe. The European structures have always been retracted by the Franco-German alliance, the cement of which is the true political origin of the single currency. The other countries are, at their best, clandestine passengers and, at their worst, contingencies. There is thus a dissociation between nominal power (the one that is presented in the media by the leaders of the European structures) and real power (the one that is truly executed by the dominating States). This evokes serious questions amongst citizens with respect to political representativeness.
Today, Europe believes to save its economy and its currency through budgetary righteousness. It might lose them both through social conflicts. The European approach neglects the social factor that can lead to sudden kindling. The economic history full of these incidents.
Moreover, it is not the first time that the monetary dream is being wiped out in favour of a return to national realities. How many times have the accession to peace and prosperity not been announced through free exchange and monetary agreements before History brutally changed? The Latin Monetary Union of the end of the 19th century did not withstand the different European models and failed during the 1914-1918 War. The same was true for the period between the two world wars, during which it was believed that monetary agreements were to bring harmony amongst populations.
Finally, I am worried about the fact that the European design, supported by men that had conserved their army conscience, will run out of steam in favour of powerful nationalist economies.
Economists have to ask the past the questions that interest today. At the beginning of the crisis, some amongst them reminded that one can never underestimate political will and power. Five years later, it’s political disintegration that answers them. Saving the single currency does not imply that all countries remain affiliated. The single currency will encounter jolts and scuttling.
What needs to be formulated is a message of union, generosity and confidence in the youth as well as the understanding between populations. Many will find these ideas naive. After all, maybe this is not of the States’ but only of private person’s interest? Nevertheless, current European leaders that - for lack of prestige or opportunism - will not pass on the torch of Mitterand and Kohl to their successors, will carry a heavy responsibility towards History.
