A thrust to the EU

Those who forecasted that the crisis that undermined European Monetary Union for the past two years might at the end of the day prompt further integration could in fact be right. Moreover, the European Council that convened in Brussels past December 8-9 adopted a far-sighted approach marked by decisions supporting a common regulatory framework on financial and budgetary policies. Finally, greater thrust is given to the political Union and to the reinforcement of community institutions, which – given the management of the ongoing crisis, coordinated by heads of Government and State in recent months -hasty commentators believed to be doomed to be recorded amongst the fallen.The decisions taken at political level will be part of a treaty due to become legally binding by March 2012. For EU cohesion purposes the treaty must be ratified not only by the members of the monetary Union but also by a majority of EU countries. The fact that Great Britain backed out of community discipline motivated by its national interests – notably those of its financial industry – is to be deplored, but it cannot thwart the thrust towards “more Europe”. This must be viewed as a positive result of the summit, since in previous occasions the heads of Government and State often yielded to those who vetoed (the U.K. in most cases), renouncing the possibility of taking decisions or deciding on the basis of the minimum common denominator. But despite Brussels’ decisions the crisis hasn’t been overcome yet, owing to the fact that the over-indebtedness of certain countries, which, in the last analysis, originated the ongoing crisis, is lingering on. However, the introduction of financial and economic governance tools will prevent similar crises from braking out in the future. The newly established regulations bind Member States to contribute to stability with balanced budgets without new debts, and by systematically and consistently decreasing the previously contracted once. The efforts of Member States’ governments that were hardly hit by indebtedness crises show that this message has been received and the scenarios linked to the experience of the crisis prompt the adoption of much-needed measures, even when they are opposed by the overall population. An important condition to ensure the progressive decrease of the debt burden is economic growth, which needs to be incessantly revitalised and boosted. Only a living, growing economy can impose taxes, critical to getting out of debt, accompanied by the solidarity and the support of EU partners in facing their heap of debts and for the recovery of competition and growth. But success won’t be reached in a day. This process will take time. That’s why the “market” could not adjust itself in the short run. Headed towards recovery, the crisis triggered progress towards European political Union. It’s not the first time that a crisis acts as the catalyst of integration. In fact, Europe has always grown through its crises. They are the expression of profound changes, accompanied by the relinquishment of traditional national sovereign State systems.