Many have written premature obituaries of the European Union over the past few decades. What started as a common market for European states had the potential of becoming a political union and a superpower to rival the US and the Soviet Union. It is not just eurosceptics that have written off the vision of a united Europe. Now europhiles are beginning to ask what difference the EU is making to ordinary people’s lives.
The governance of the EU ensures that member states continue to have the final word on issues of high politics like defence, the economy, and fiscal sovereignty. They jealously guard against the intrusion of the various EU institutions into these sensitive areas.
Integration remains an ideal or, better still, wishful thinking.
The European Council seems to be the only body that matters when difficult decisions need to be taken. Just a few weeks ago the Council was arguing about the size of the next EU budget. That debate now seems to be just a chapter in EU ancient history. The pandemic has ushered in a new socio-economic reality for the EU and the rest of the world.
Countries like Italy, Spain, Greece and even France are struggling to deal with an economic catastrophe. They need to borrow money or, better still, dig in the EU war chest. But Germany and other northern European states are so far resisting debt mutualisation.
One can almost hear some Northern European heads of state meeting in Brussels humming a remake (with a slight change in title) of the Pink Floyd 1960s song We don’t need no integration. This double negative is not just a syntactic error. It sounds more like a political mantra for fiscal rectitude.
There is some indication that the German-led block’s resistance to a fiscal union may be softening. It is evident that if the economies of countries like Italy and Spain collapse, there is not much scope for German exporters to sell their goods.
The glue that keeps the EU member states together is their common interest to see trade flowing freely in the union. Apart from this, talk about shared democratic values, respect for the rule of law, and solidarity is little more than inspirational talk meant to project the EU in a favourable light with increasingly sceptical Europeans.
The glue that keeps the EU member states together is their common interest to see trade flowing freely in the union
The chickens are now coming home to roost. Italy’s laissez-faire attitude to fiscal management under different inept administrations has resulted in the country building a debt mountain that today amounts to 136 per cent of GDP. Following the COVID-19 crisis, no one will be surprised if Italy’s public debt reaches 150 per cent.
The Stability and Growth Pact that was meant to ensure that EU member states managed their public finances prudently in the absence of fiscal integration is, like most EU intergovernmental agreements, no more than a declaration of intent with no sanctions if it is not respected.
EU institutions like the European Commission, the ECB and the European Parliament are deprived of the real authority to bring about the change that is needed to make the EU the economic tiger that it has the potential to be. Instead, the Commission is the quintessential bureaucratic machine that issues complex directives on low political issues that EU heads of states are prepared to delegate.
The oversized European Parliament celebrates achievements like the reduction of mobile phone roaming costs and the standardisation of phone chargers as if these are the issues that will make the future of EU citizens brighter. Improvements in low politics decisions are always welcome, but hardly the stuff that makes strong political leadership in a time of crisis.
The EU faces formidable challenges. Some member states are allowed to adopt more dictatorial political systems without threats of decisive sanctions. Others manage their economies in a way that favours electoral success rather than long-term viability. The Union has indeed adopted à la carte approach to integration. EU leaders seem to be waiting for Godot to resolve their lack of social and economic cohesion.
The current socio-economic crisis caused by the pandemic will put further stress on the EU. Some Council members will keep humming ‘We don’t need no integration’ while begrudgingly agreeing to a financial package to shore countries like Italy and Spain for the next year or two.
Ordinary people continue to believe that the EU means little to them despite the inspirational tweets that their political representatives keep sending them, especially as electoral tests approach.