Nothing in the bag yet but something has shifted. It is a long time since the president of the Commission has received as much support and as many compliments as Mr Barroso received after his speech to the European Parliament last week. An overwhelming majority in the Parliament, in addition to a significant number of commentators and observers, consider that the direction for the relaunch of European construction has been outlined, even if the path between intentions and putting them into practice will still be a long one. Mr Barroso has not just limited himself to outlining the objectives, he has also devised “a crisis exit strategy” based on re-establishing the EU's institutional operations as laid down in the Treaties. It would be naïve to consider that the orthodoxy of Community principles can be re-established just by waving a magic wand, that the initiatives announced will all be put into practice and that the scepticism and sporadic discouragement among the public can be immediately overcome, but last week indicated that something had indeed shifted.
Concrete results. No matter how effective a speech might be, it can't create miracles. Change depends on the operational nature of the initiatives proposed or announced and the number of results that are actually accomplished. With all the infernal handwringing going on about Europe's decline, we have here a number of projects that would have been deemed illusory in the past. I will underline three of them: (a) the strengthening of European economic governance has been agreed; (b) the tax on financial transactions (Tobin tax) has in principle also been retained, following 30 years of discussions on the subject; (c) eurobonds have been announced as a logical development.
In the past, the emphasis on such projects would have been put on the divergences between member states, to the point that most observers, as well as the players themselves, would have thought that nothing possible could be achieved. Endless analyses would have followed suite, together with scepticism and divided opinion. But now we actually have something in concrete! The six regulations on the way economic governance works result from a battle that could have been defined previously as of Homeric proportions between the Parliament and Council. The result that has been achieved involves binding rules, automatic sanctions against member states failing to respect these rules and acceptance that being part of the eurozone without respecting the rules will become impossible. The two other spectacular innovations are no longer unrealistic. Certain member states previously rejected the introduction of a simple but radical principle. The Tobin Tax and eurobonds will be put into practice without the participation of those outside the eurozone if necessary. Those who choose to can remain on the sidelines.
The in principle opposition of the US to the Tobin tax did not create a barrier to the orientation favoured by most member states and a majority at the European Parliament with regard to this project that the Commission is proposing. The Tobin tax has been accepted as an instrument for tackling speculation and it will receive considerable support from the EU's budget resources and member states' national budgets.
The Greeks must understand. Obviously, putting the instruments mentioned above into practice will not always prove easy. A number of amendments to the Treaty will be crucial and Mr Barroso acknowledged this. The appropriate functioning of the eurozone, however, will become automatic. Radical drift from the rules, as observed in Greece, will no longer be possible.
It is true that the public in Greece is not convinced. In Athens a well-known academic summed up the position from the local cultural community: “Greece has given you democracy, philosophy, art, theatre, architecture… Europe owes us much more than a few billion euros”. This comment is perhaps valid with regard to the presence of Greece in the EU; indeed as far as this aspect is concerned, Community support is considerable and no one is opposed to it. What it is in fact being discussed, however, is the country's participation in the eurozone, which requires respect for common rules, without which the single currency will be unable to exist. In this area, new rules on economic governance for the eurozone will be put into practice automatically, and this is indispensable. The Greek people need to understand this.
The previous considerations bring us to the institutional aspect of Mr Barroso's speech. He supported the Community method and the Commission with both firmness and passion, which explains the positive welcome his speech obtained from the great majority of the European Parliament, even from MEPs who had initially criticised him for giving in to the Council and member states too easily. Mr Barroso considers that the Commission “is the economic government of Europe”. He has appealed for a European commissioner to assume the presidency of the Eurogroup. Tomorrow, this column will return to the subject of what implications this speech will have on the EU's relations with third countries. (FR/transl.fl)