Timothy Garton Ash finds national EU debates poorly timed

The British parliament on Monday rejected a motion for a referendum on exiting the EU, while the German Bundestag on Wednesday approved the expansion of the euro bailout fund. Historian Timothy Garton Ash sees the EU debates taking place in national parliaments as sensible, but finds the timing unfortunate: "I also believe that, given time, the case for a sustainable continuation of today's EU would win the argument. Although triggered by scepticism - euro-scepticism in Germany, a broader Euroscepticism in Britain - both these parliamentary debates actually produced some vigorous articulation of the underlying case for 'Europe'. We should not be afraid of open debate. Bring it on. The catch is in the 'given time'. Ten years ago, we still had that time. If this were just a matter of national parliaments and plebiscites, we would still have that time. But it isn't and we don't. The markets could pull the rug from under the euro any day. We gather bond traders are already pulling back from Spanish, Italian and even French government bonds. A final irony is that they are doing so partly in order to protect the financial interests of European pension funds: that is to say, the long-term retirement benefits of some of the very same people who, in another capacity, as national voters, are making it so difficult to arrive at a solution that would impress the markets. Answers, anyone?"

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