Lost Europe

The Press and TV convey Europe’s widespread bewilderment before the financial and economic turmoil currently experienced by Greece. Also Community institutions fail to deny it. Considering that at least Portugal and Spain – to extents not yet defined – are preparing for a similar situation, despite the due reassurances to the external world, it is natural to detect the difficulties of Brussels and Frankfurt in the handling of the crisis. These crises are not confined to the sphere of national budgets and/or of the single currency. Indeed, Belgium is afflicted by an institutional standstill, the new course in the UK tends towards European isolationism: in Hungary, supported by the International Monetary Fund there is a widespread social drift, while surging poverty in families across Europe are reason for concern. Such bewilderment can be best understood considering that a fundamental contribution to the “no moment” comes from Europe: rather, from its weak presence at political and economic level, combined with its recent and past acceptance of the behaviour of governments that sought their own interest to the detriment of the Community’s. Some weathered the storm while others (see Greece) didn’t. For this reason wise economy management constitutes a priority in the short run. Two years of international crisis have brought the problems to the fore: the Euro is vulnerable if it is not protected by a common policy, national budgets are almost all in the red, the pension systems are no guarantee for the future. And rather than being an exception, patronage system and corruption are often the rule. While the Monetary Fund is on the threshold of Euro land, the Central Bank and the Government are obliged to see it to the door: they ought to find the capacity to do so. Thus a reaction is expected ensuing Europe’s acknowledgement of its mistake. Not only at financial and institutional level but also at the level of the daily management of policies and of the economy, in support of citizens who perceive the surrounding bewilderment, acknowledge low quality of life standards and envision a worsening of the overall situation. It is a labyrinth whose exiting path has not yet been adequately identified, also due to the political leaders’ failure to sympathize with the man on the street.The road from bewilderment to fear is short. But so is the path from bewilderment to the recovery of life. This ought to be the target.