Europe's a Mess

School Blog 8

Last Wednesday my fellow JSBP gang members and I got the pleasure of having a discussion with Andras Baneth. Baneth is a Hungarian that has spent such an enormous amount of time working within the EU that he literally wrote the book on the subject.

The Book

I couldn’t have asked for a more ideal time to meet with such an European Union expert. The current turmoil that is taking place throughout Europe (and the rest of the world) due to the Euro zone’s financial condition has owned newspaper headlines for quite some time now, and won’t be disappearing from the public discourse anytime soon. It’s quite palpable to everyone that the alliance of the twenty-seven sovereign European nations is on the brink of extinction. The wide array of cultural, linguistic, and most notably economic differences between the countries of the EU has begun to chip away at the great ‘European integration’ that many had hoped would solve much of the continents problems.

Greek Protests

Baneth and many of his colleagues had believed that the EU would put an end to the possibility of any future wars in Europe, and it was clearly established to bind countries like France and Germany, who throughout their long and storied histories have never quite cared for one another. The way that Baneth talked about the current and future problems that the Union is facing was gloomy and somewhat pessimistic, but certainly understandable. He voiced the opinion of many Europeans in his inquiring over whether or not the Union will last. It would certainly be a major tragedy if it were to fail. The German Chancellor Angela Merkel even made the statement (which Baneth agreed with) that Europe will break out into war if the Union were to fall apart.  

Angela Merkel, Powerful Lady

Baneth described the EU as being somewhere between an international organization and the united stated of Europe. Much of the rationale behind the EU was to combine the small markets of European nations into one large market more capable of competing in the cutthroat world of globalization. A major part of the problem that the EU has however, is that even though they have established a currency in their member states and have the power to determine much of the trade and immigration policies within the Euro zone, they have no ability to tax the individual citizens in any country. They also have no control over the financial policies of any member state, which means they can’t determine the public benefits or the retirement age in a nation like Greece. Thus the problem has arisen that some countries in the EU (such as Germany) have done a much better job of controlling their national debt and producing high numbers in terms of Gross Domestic Product, while countries like Greece and Ireland have done just the opposite.

The result is that German taxpayers are being forced to bail out Greek citizens. These types of improprieties could be reduced if the EU had more control (as if it were a federal government, ie the US of Europe) and could take away some of the member states fiscal autonomy.

GDP by country

Unfortunately, as this problem undergoes more public scrutiny, and as Europeans become more impatient with the Euro, countries are much less likely to sacrifice power to the advisors of the European Union. Baneth, and many other well-informed thinkers alike, is not overly confident that the EU will last into the distant future. This pessimism makes me sad, but is certainly understandable. I think that a more unified Europe would be an impressive accomplishment for nations that have constantly fought with one another in the past. I also sense that the more the average citizens of Europe become aware of the shortcomings the EU’s current establishment however, the less likely they will be to concede their own national independence for the good of the continent.