Faced by disaster

If Greece were not the only European country that risks default. If a large part of Europe were not in a situation of economic and financial instability (and if the ratings agencies had not downgraded even France). If international competitiveness were less unequal. If, if… But, as we say, history isn’t made of "ifs". The picture is clear; the crisis has not been overcome; the Eurozone is having to come to terms with a shaky currency; national debts are increasing; unemployment is at the limits of what is supportable. And it’s citizens, workers and families that are having to pray the price of all this.So, the more concerns for the survival of Greece, and of the euro as a whole, grow, the stronger become the voices that are calling for the immediate support of Athens – no matter at what cost – as the only way out, the construction of a system of rules to prevent future crisis, a financial firewall in defence of national finances and, not least, a strategic plan aimed at reviving the growth of the real economy and, with it, employment, consumption, trade, savings, and the budgets themselves of the European countries. The President of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, has repeatedly said: "The cost of rescuing Greece is certainly less than that deriving from the failure" of the Mediterranean country, the consequences of which appear wholly unpredictable and destabilizing.The solution, then, is to come to the aid of Athens. But how, when and for how long? A Eurogroup meeting has already been convened for 20 February; according to the group’s chairman, Jean-Claude Juncker, it should "take the expected decisions", in other words, the lifeline of 130 billion euro so many times promised, or at least that part of it needed to reimburse the 14.5 billion of Greek government bonds that fall due in mid March. The rest of the aid package could be conditional on the maintenance of the undertakings made by the majority that will emerge from the Greek general elections scheduled for April.The Greek stalemate, which in substance is a European stalemate, however, prompts some further reflections. First, the current crisis, the crisis that had its starting point in the USA in 2008, before exploding in full in the "old continent", has induced the EU to review its own internal mechanisms of financial regulation and of monetary stability. It has forced the 27 member countries to reconsider the efficiency of their own labour markets, the sustainability of their pension regimes, the robustness of their banking sectors, and the effectiveness of public expenditure by member states and that of European funds (structural, cohesion, social funds etc.). The reforms in question have been begun, but have not been completed. The economic crisis has also prompted an "examination of conscience" on the relation between politics and the economy; it has imposed the need for a proper system of governance and hence the construction, albeit gradual and cautious, of an Economic Union round the Monetary Union. The completion of the single market, and a greater convergence of production and industrial systems (though not of tax regimes), are taking shape thanks not to the warnings, however pervasive, of economists, but to a growing consciousness: in the global economy no country can act alone; their efforts need to be united. Nor can we fail to show some solidarity with the real distress being expressed by demonstrators on the streets of Athens, where citizens are calling for respect, dignity, and perhaps even a benevolent eye: "Don’t reduce us to hunger", said a placard being waved in the air by one demonstrator in Athens. "Greece has been badly governed for too many years" – European politicians, experts and journalists have thundered in recent days –; Greece has been bankrupted by nepotism, inefficiency, tax evasion, and bad book-keeping. There’s some truth in all this: but how many countries in Europe can be considered a mirror of public perfection? And, besides, can the ordinary citizen who lives in Greece, the family or the small business, be considered responsible for the disaster that is now staring us all in the face? Is Greek democracy (the mother of all democracies) diseased at its root? And have not those whose job it was to monitor Greece, including the EU, some part of the blame? So we discover that the sick economy is only the symptom of a larger disease: a political class that has failed, that is absent, that has abdicated its responsibility.So, to "adjust" the Greek finances what’s needed is a qualitative leap: in the rules of finance, in the decisions and actions of politicians, in the conduct of the individual and of the community in Greece. And the warning that comes from the Parthenon cannot escape Berlin no less than Madrid, London no less than Warsaw, Rome no less than Tallin: economy and democracy must proceed pari passu. And prevention is always better than cure.