Recognising progress. The orientation that should be considered as positive overall in the current period of European construction, despite certain disappointments and difficulties that no one can deny, is beginning to take shape. If I am highlighting this point, to the risk of boring our readers, it is because I am wary of journalists who overdramatise things or those who defend specific interests and only focus on the negative aspects. The figures who have helped construct Europe, or who are doing so today, are taking action to combat this negative tendency.
Chancellor Schmidt's “small” correction. The most recent contribution in this connection, as far as I know, was Helmut Schmidt, the German Chancellor from 1974-1982, who followed on from Willy Brandt and came just before Helmut Kohl. Asked about the difficulties of the euro, he immediately interrupted his interviewer and said: “a small correction: the euro is not going through a difficult period itself at all. Since it has been in existence, its purchasing power has been much more stable than that of the dollar or the Chinese currency. The euro is not in danger.” In his opinion, this is nothing but a myth bandied about by the British press. If Greece does not recover and if it chooses to leave the euro, its national currency will have been devalued five or six times before it is even floated on the markets. It is true that Europe is experiencing difficulties and the Lisbon Treaty is opaque and impossible to understand and apply, but things should not be pessimistically exaggerated. The need for European construction and its further deepening is obvious. In 2019, Europeans will only account for 5% of the world's population and no European country will have sufficient punching power on its own. Obviously, Europe has to correct the mistakes that it has made, such as the idea of allowing Turkey to join the Community. Before the end of this century, Turkey's population will be more than 100 million - an Asian country that would be a giant compared to Europe! Mr Schmidt's observation contained some of the sentiments expressed by José Ortega y Gasset - that Europe existed as a whole, the heritage of the Roman Empire, well before the emergence of current national identities. The single currency is one of the aspects of this ancient unity that needs rebuilding and from this angle current difficulties are only another few twists and turns.
Mr Junker's positive concern. It is not necessary to hark back to the generation of the former German Chancellor to understand what is happening. The president of the Eurogroup, Jean-Claude Junker, is one of the central protagonists in the current situation. He has been very vocal of late, obviously aware of the necessity to clarify matters that have often been portrayed incorrectly. At the same time, he has also used his right to refrain from speaking when any inappropriate forecast “could seriously harm others, who are in general neither billionaires, nor journalists”. He is not happy with what is happening and, on the contrary, has said that he is very concerned and considers it indispensable for all the different players to get involved and tackle the difficulties in Greece (see below). At the same time, he rejects any pessimism: “I am convinced that if we meet the challenge, European construction will come out of this crisis strengthened… Without Europe, many countries would be in recession, we would have more unemployment and more deficits. We would not be able to contain the consequences of the Greek crisis - either for Greece itself or for the other countries. A national response is not enough. f
It is also a generational issue. Young people do not think that what was already acquired when they were born is progress - they think it normal. Nonetheless, these benefits could be lost. Mr Juncker has explained: “My generation is the last generation whose fathers were soldiers and whose mothers did not have a youth because of the war. We are the only ones to have accomplished an unprecedented performance - the merger of 17 national currencies into a single one. If we do not take the situation in hand, the next generation will have neither the memory, nor the strength, to consolidate what has already been acquired. We are not the builders but the inheritors who are running out of steam.”
Two conditions. Can Greece do what is asked of it? Are the Greek people prepared to make the necessary effort? Mr Juncker considers it possible on two conditions - that “the Greek billionaires and millionaires are more involved” and that the EU makes a number of efforts to “provide optimistic prospects for the Greeks demonstrating in the streets and those who have almost nothing”. For example, EU cohesion policy funding should be awarded to Greece, without demanding that it co-funds each project itself.
According to Mr Junker, however, the hypothesis of leaving the euro is absurd - for Greece itself (a significant reduction in GDP, a dramatic cut in salaries, savings leaving the country) and for the effects of contagion in the eurozone and beyond. A collective solution is possible “which would enable Greece, within a timeframe that is probably much longer than expected, to get back on track”. (F.R./transl.fl)
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(Main sources: Mr Schmidt interviewed by Paolo Valentino and Mr Juncker by Sabine Verhest)