The Cost of " No Europe"

Populism is not new to politics. I believe it is natural in politics, it is built into politicians. What is now happening in Europe is nothing but populism. Leaders are increasingly looking only at local problems and are forgetting the greater aspects of European integration. This is also not new in Europe, and it brings back dark memories from the middle of the last century.

The example of Denmark comes to mind. Let us not forget that this country has been for decades a model of democracy, tolerance and social justice. It set a trend when in the 40s the Nazis ordered Danish Jews to wear the yellow star, and the King of Denmark set the example for the whole nation by wearing it himself on his uniform while riding his horse through town. But now, Denmark is surrendering to fear and xenophobia.

Further south, Greece is not getting all the support it needs from other partners, and Finland and Slovakia are refusing to pay their share of Portugal’s bailout.

Two other symptoms: the immigration crisis from North Africa has led Italy and France to restrict movements in the EU and Germany has not supported the UN Security Council Resolution against Ghadaffi´s Libya.

And finally, my own country, Spain, has not voiced its opposition to all the above measures, not even shaming the attitude of the European Commission and its Portuguese President, Durao Barroso on the above issues.

It has been said that the current crisis in European integration has four main reasons leading to a crisis of values and political shortsightedness: The Euro´s crisis; a rise in xenophobia, not limited but higher in the “ newer members of the EU”; no real common foreign policy and a worrying lack of leadership.

Concerning xenophobia, Europe has quickly forgotten its solidarity for refugees, with the last example in the 90s with the ex-Yugoslavia. Now, a few thousand desperate North Africans have thrown Europe into disarray. We have to be thankful that Denmark borders Germany and Sweden, two of the most stable and safe countries in the world. If they had common borders with North Africa or other regions, they would be electrifying the border and maybe laying land mines.

As far as the crisis of the euro, some of us think that Southern countries would be better off out of the euro zone, which is really little more than tailor made for Germany and based on the ex-Deutschmark. Take the example of Spain. We pay 200 basic points extra to service our debt than the UK, but the UK has a higher debt ratio than Spain. The difference: the UK has the pound in circulation and therefore keeps it margin for competitive monetary policy. Spain does not have this luxury any longer.

Chancellor Merkel, supposedly defending European economic integration, has two days ago called for Southern Europeans to work more, take fewer vacations and retire at a later age. What exactly did she mean by this? In Germany the official retirement age is 67. The same as in Spain. The average retirement age in Germany is 62.2 years, considerably lower than in Spain.

Germans have between 25 and 30 vacation days a year. Spaniards have “ only” 22. But in her speech, Merkel mentioned Spain, together with Portugal and Greece as countries that have been rescued. And she conveniently forgot about Ireland, presumably because the Irish are off the German public’s radar. So she is really addressing her own constituents, not the broader European public opinion, regardless of what she says or thinks she is doing.

The real problem in Europe today is the absence of long-term vision. We have to get back to basics and our leaders have to think again of the “ Costs of No- Europe”.