Main focus of Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Scepticism before EU crisis summit

Hollande and Merkel want to discuss the euro crisis at a bilateral meeting in Paris before the summit. (© AP/dapd)

The EU heads of state and government will convene in Brussels on Thursday and Friday for a summit meeting on the euro debt crisis. Key points to be discussed are increased integration in the Union and the loss of sovereignty this entails for individual states. Commentators sense a dangerous EU scepticism in many countries ahead of the summit, and fear the participants will fail to reach agreement on solutions.

Summit will be ineffective

The question of whether to step up integration as a means of coping with the euro crisis is firmly on the agenda at the EU summit in Brussels on Thursday and Friday. After all the EU's unsuccessful attempts to solve the crisis, the left-liberal daily Delo does not have much hope that the summit will be productive: "Should a banking, fiscal and political union emerge according to the development plans, one in which the countries can no longer unilaterally determine their own budgets (without Brussels' blessing), the democratic construct of the Union will need a new foundation. The upcoming EU summit represents another chance for change. Expectations are high, but they will be difficult to fulfil. Preliminary ideas for the future development of the Eurozone are on the table. No one knows how willing states like France will be to relinquish their sovereignty in further key areas. That also goes for the notorious belt-cinching. The price we pay on the Old Continent is that with the institutional strengthening of the Eurozone, the EU will have a core and a periphery made up of the 'rest'. " (26/06/2012)

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More from the press review on the subject » EU Policy, » Fiscal Policy, » Economic Policy, » Europe
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Common EU government unavoidable

German Chancellor Angela Merkel must show at the EU summit at the end of the week that she has confidence in Europe, writes the news portal Spiegel Online, predicting that a common European government is inevitable: "If the Germans voted today they would drop Europe cold. Merkel must woo the people - even if at the end of the day it could cost her her job. ... There will be no getting around a referendum [on the changes to the German Basic Law to allow for an extension of the competences of the EU]. ... The banking union and euro bonds are merely emergency measures with which the smouldering flames of the crisis can be smothered. After that the Germans will have a new Basic Law and the continent will have a common government, a common policy and a common destiny. That is the consequence of the entire European integration process since the Treaties of Rome. It's too late to turn back now." (25/06/2012)

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More from the press review on the subject » EU Policy, » Fiscal Policy, » Germany, » Europe
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Italy's dangerous anti-European clowns

Prominent Italian politicians like ex-prime minister Silvio Berlusconi recently explained that there would be benefits to the country exiting the Eurozone. Such anti-European statements could further jeopardise Italy's stability, the left-liberal business paper Cinco Diás warns: "[Prime Minister] Mario Monti is stuck between two comedians. [The blogger and actor] Beppe Grillo, a professional comedian and leader of what is purportedly the second-strongest party in the country, [the Movimento 5 Stelle], wants Italy to exit the Eurozone and not pay its debts. And Silvio Berlusconi is also using anti-European slogans for his comeback bid. … He is now proposing that either Germany or Italy should leave the euro. ... The danger is that the euroscepticism of the second- and third-strongest political forces could damage Italy's image. The investors could drive up the interest rates on government bonds by worrying about what will happen once the Monti era comes to an end: even less confidence, a deepening recession and greater doubts about the survival of the euro." (26/06/2012)

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More from the press review on the subject » EU Policy, » Domestic Policy, » Italy
Who's saying what » Ways out of the debt crisis

EU could prove to be only solution

Ueili Maurer, a member of the Swiss Federal Council and the national-conservative Swiss People's Party (SVP), recently stated in an interview with the weekly newspaper Zeit that no one "who hasn't completely lost their marbles" wants to become part of the EU now. Maurer's frank words could well put Switzerland at a disadvantage one day, writes the Politblog of the liberal daily Tages-Anzeiger: "What if the patient recovers and gets back on its feet again? What if the EU - according to the motto 'what does not kill me makes me stronger' - gains in tempo and clout? … Imagine the outcry in the SVP if - in 10 or 20 years' time - the then EU Commission president says that no one 'who hasn't completely lost their marbles' would now dare to go it alone. People would say it was blackmail - and a lack of respect. If Switzerland then sucks up to Brussels and asks for membership and full participation in the world's most important market, no one should be surprised if Brussels turns up its nose." (25/06/2012)

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More from the press review on the subject » EU enlargement, » Fiscal Policy, » Economic Policy, » EU neighbourhood policy, » Switzerland, » Europe
All available articles from » Matthias Chapman
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