Europe and the crisis

Past May 9 the Finance ministers of the European Union adopted a rescue package for eurozone countries with beleaguered national balances. The ministers agreed a €750 billion support mechanism along with a €140 billion bailout to Greece, adopted two days earlier by the heads of Government and State of the Monetary Union. The measures aimed at enabling eurozone States to recover credibility with their creditors and curb the fall of European currency, were adopted when the single currency – along with the European Union – was on the verge of a collapse. However, it rests assured that Greece’s relief measure and the new financial stability mechanisms will at the most postpone of a few years the outburst of another European debt crisis. Some forecast a three-year time lapse. Banks, insurance companies and pension funds granting loans to eurozone Member States are called to wait for the growth rate of the Continent to plummet before reimbursing the skyrocketing national debts of the past thirty years. Declining birth-rates, along with crumbling industrial foundations and European know-how complete the picture. Although it was unconceivable until a few months ago, sixty years since Robert Schuman’s declaration, we have entered a serious political crisis. After the financial and economic crisis, monetary and political Europe is in danger. “But where there is danger there also is deliverance” are the consoling words of renowned German poet Friedrich Hölderlin in his poem “Patmos”. The saving element can be identified also in the political authorities’ renewed determination to address the major challenges linked to the recovery plan. It will be necessary to reduce deficits and public debts in order to reinstate the political supervision of financial markets and finally pinpoint the way leading to long-lasting economic growth. As for the first point, on May 21 the working group coordinated by European Council President Herman van Rompuy and composed by the finance ministers gathered for the first time in Brussels to strengthen EU economic governance. Targets include the improvement of budgetary discipline, the reduction of competitiveness gaps among European regions and the establishment of an ad hoc crisis mechanism. Moreover, on May 20 European Commissioner Michel Barnier revealed the impressive amount of measures intended for the improvement of financial service regulations. A renewed economic dynamism is yet to be recovered. To this regard Mario Monti gave the most valuable contribution with an exceptional report for a new single market strategy. The Report, commissioned by José Manuel Barroso and issued May 9, did not yet receive the recognition it deserves. For Mario Monti, a more efficient single market performance opens growth perspectives without which national debt could not be reimbursed. We will leave them to the next generation. In approximately 130 pages the former European Commissioner and Italian minister presents his proposals for single market building, promotion and implementation, the European Union’s most important tool. The proposals regard the free circulation of workers, banking systems transparency, e-business, a common market for “green” goods, a more fluid transport system, the optimization of services single market, the issuance of European bonds, and so on. The range of proposals and the clear-cut presentation would impress any interested reader. The author, who carried out in-depth consultations prior to the drawing up of the Report, highlighted the role of the single market, in order to “enliven a highly competitive social market economy”, a concept which is now to be found in the European Union Treaty. For the Christians in Europe the Report provides the opportunity of once again promoting a concrete project aimed at the advancement of the European Union. It can be interpreted to the light of the objective of the integral development of the human person presented by Benedict XVI in the last encyclical “Caritas in veritate”, as economic growth contributes to full human development. However, economic growth primarily depends on intellectual and spiritual development. Today, this form of development is probably lacking the most. Its absence is at the basis of the crisis we are experiencing in Europe. The Church justly reiterates it.