We must go ahead

Financial stability “is not enough. We must do more, particularly in the areas of growth and employment”. The President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy, concluded the summit of January 30 reiterating a concept that should be obvious. A phrase exemplifying the statement: “the summit was a success”, namely, that Europe has recovered crucial harmony “to overcome the crisis” and lay the grounds for the recovery of real economy and employment. The point was made in statement released at the end of the meeting of 27 Heads of government or state held in Brussels, whose opening session was marked by tensions, gradually replaced by the terms adopted in the final statement. The president of the EU Commission, José Manuel Barroso, remarked: “We have sought an agreement to recover confidence, not only of the markets, but mainly, the confidence of our citizens”. The EU can thus resume its journey, which in the past three years reached a standstill caused by the financial crisis, by the disequilibrium in public accounts of most eurozone countries as well as of those that do not adopt the common currency. The standstill deeply impacted production, commerce, employment, consumption rates, and savings. The EU reached a political agreement (although the UK and Czech Republic holdouts on Fiscal Compact highlights the different paces of the integration process), which heralds “technical” agreements. Said agreements include first and foremost the finalization of “a treaty on stability and convergence in the Economic and Monetary Union”, namely, the official document that lays the grounds for the surveillance of public accounts, which are expected to even out. The ratification of the intergovernmental treaty is scheduled for the European Council in March while its enforcement is due to take place in January 2013 after the ratification of at least 12 eurozone countries. The second crux regards the implementation of the European Stability Mechanism, scheduled for July 2012. It will replace the provisional European Financial Stability Facility, whose launch will also take place in March, whose €500 billion ceiling may be extended to 750, thus further discouraging speculators from aiming at the single currency. Last but not least, the signatories agree to boost growth via measures that still need to be put into writing, addressed primarily to youth unemployment, to complete the common market, to support SMEs (for reasons linked to parliamentary procedures the Swedish prime minister has not yet affixed his signature on the statement.) Also in this case the item is adjourned for debate in the March summit when national guidelines for each member state will be drawn up. A separate chapter regards the best use, or the “reorientation” of community funding for cohesion, territorial development, formation and education.Almost as if to justify the commitments for growth, the preamble states: “Decisions have been taken to ensure financial stability and fiscal consolidation – this is a necessary condition for a return to higher structural growth and employment. But it is not in itself sufficient: we have to modernise our economies and strengthen our competitiveness to secure a sustainable growth”. The decision of the European Council “is essential to create jobs and preserve our social models”. These efforts must be made in close cooperation with the social partners, respecting Member States’ national systems”. Growth and employment, the document state, “will only resume if we pursue a consistent and broad-based approach, combining a smart fiscal consolidation preserving investment in future growth, sound macroeconomic policies and an active employment strategy preserving social cohesion”.At a closer glance, the summit underlined a set of virtuous approaches that every country should normally adopt, coupling sound public accounts with medium-long term investments to promote the development of market economy and job creation within a framework marked by strong international competition. Now the question is to pass – as all leaders reiterated – from words to facts. There remains the result of a renewed – yet fragile – political agreement which, despite the ordeal of recession and sovereign debt, is only possible path for the building of Europe.