Common Europe not saved yet

The measures decided on for the bailout of indebted states circumvent the fundamental question of how much Community Europeans actually want in future, writes the business paper Les Echos: "The resolutions on the instruments necessary to solve the crisis fail to answer the basic question nagging at the EU: do we want to go on living together at all? ... The European project has recently seemed pointless and increasingly aroused the mistrust of the citizens - just think of the No on the part of the French and the Dutch to the Constitution in 2005 - when the fear of a collapse of the Eurozone gave us a salutary shock. ... Under acute pressure the ECB as been assigned a new role and the euro bailout fund marks the beginning of a federalised budget approach. ... But this doesn't add up to a project because these advances were made half-heartedly and behind the citizens' backs. There is a great risk that the European spirit will fade as soon as the urgency of the present situation has passed."

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