Politicians responsible for annus horribilis

2011 was the year of economic collapse and missed opportunities for which above all the politicians are to blame, writes the political scientist Olivier Duhamel in the conservative weekly Valeurs actuelles: "You could call 2011 an 'annus horribilis'. We have suffered two major crises: mistrust of the Eurozone and the onset of the recession. And to a large extent our politicians are to blame. One good example is the tragicomedy of France's triple-A rating. ... There was no happy ending. Things took a turn for the worse and despite themselves our sorcerer 's apprentices only deepened the mistrust. The second example: the series of European summits and their persistent failure to reach their immediate goal, namely to break the vicious circle of distrust. ... France demands solidarity and promises discipline in the future, while Germany wants things the other way round. To bypass this blockade one compromise after another is being hastily cobbled together, with the result that distrust is growing and the recession is the order of the day."

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