Sounds good, doesn’t it? Till you look at the initial ideas. First all member states cede sovereignty to Brussels, then we all get our deficits down and comply with the German obsession of fiscal rectitude, then perhaps, maybe, we might fudge something by giving a few extra powers to the European Parliament. But that is a minor detail we may address in about a decade or so.
Whoops! In other words forget about the democratic deficit. Forget about democracy all together. And who, in the meantime will be calling all the shots? Brussels. And what is Brussels? A bunch of blinkered appointed Eurocrats who do what The Frau says. And remain unaccountable to anyone!
Somehow going completely bust and reverting to the drachma doesn’t sound as horrific any more!
Ian Traynor in his article in the Guardian today tells us: “Joschka Fischer, the former German Foreign Minister, warned that his country was at risk of destroying itself and Europe for a third time in a century, and gave Merkel just a few months to change course […..] ‘Germany [Fischer wrote in his article] destroyed itself -and the European order- twice in the 20th century. It would be both tragic and ironic if a restored Germany by peaceful means and with the best of intentions, brought about the ruin of the European order a third time.‘”
This is something that has been playing on a great many minds, but it is the first time, to my knowledge, that the fear has been expressed by a German politician. Furthermore, Fischer also agrees with Soros that there are only a few months left to deal with the crisis. In other words, no more kicking the can down the road! It is too early to judge yet, but the ideas for Uniting Europe with a 10 year time span ahead can’t help sounding ominously like The Frau’s delaying tactics yet again.
Finally, “it would be both tragic and ironic” he says if Germany destroys Europe for a third time! Tragic, ironic, catastrophic. All Greek words.
Hubris, Nemesis, Catharsis.