Plans clash with reality

The proposal put forward by Germany and France at the recent EU summit that standard rules will make Europe more competitive has long since been proven mistaken by past experience, the liberal daily Sme comments: "No doubt raising the Greek retirement age to that in Germany - a key point in the new proposals - would lower Athens' deficit. But it would also have a cultural and social dimension. The Greeks and 'the South' in general have a rather different attitude than the Germans and Scandinavians to today and tomorrow, consumption and saving, work and siesta time. The idea that the South could raise its productivity by altering its thousand-year-old cultural identity is more than daring. Such centrally-taken decisions harbour the threat of the sort of rebellion we're now seeing in Egypt, or a power takeover by extremist forces."

» full article (external link, Slovak)
More from the press review on the subject » EU Policy, » Public Culture, » Economic Policy, » Germany, » Greece, » Europe
All available articles from » Peter Schutz

» To the complete press review of Wednesday, February 9, 2011