Since the Trojan War… If I had the chance, I would invite Europeans to rediscover at least a modicum of optimism. I am aware that such an appeal may appear inopportune or even indecent in the current circumstances. We can only ask people to be optimistic when their concerns about unemployment, making ends meet, increased risks to health and so forth, have been largely dissipated. But neither should discouragement be exaggerated either. Michel Serres, a professor at Stanford and a member of the Académie française, has pointed out: “Europe has been at peace for 65 years, something that has not happened since the Trojan War. We have never been so well fed; we have eradicated suffering; we have greater life expectancy and freedom of sexual expression. But as soon as we benefit from something, we become unaware of it and think it normal. In the West, we have never been so happy and we don't even know it”.
This is the reflection of an old man who understands that youth cannot consider something that has existed since they were born, as a conquest; for the young, this is all quite normal. The young express their generosity of spirit by protesting against war and famine in foreign lands but do not know to what extent Europe itself was afflicted by all this 50 or so years ago and that it is European unity that has helped us to escape these scourges. We have just found out that part of the wealth we thought real only yesterday is actually fictitious and so this means depression. The situation, however, will be better in the future thanks to ongoing reforms. In the meantime, it is quite true that the reality on the ground is not call for any optimism. Added to which is the tendency of the media to highlight dramatic and sensational aspects in an effort to increase circulation. Political rivalries also sometimes play a dangerous role when they become excessive. Blaming the government in office for all the problems and mistakes made, sometimes borders on the ridiculous because it can be pointed out that some of the choices so harshly criticised were made by the previous governments that are now in opposition.
The crisis did not come unannounced. The political forces that have in fact been in power over previous years or who are currently in office, partly share responsibility for the main cause of the current difficulties, namely, the deviations and abuses created by the world of finance. Analyses prove that the crisis had already been announced by several economists, certain political leaders and sometimes even operators from the financial world, the protagonists of the behaviour that is now currently being denounced. Premonitory announcements were sometimes very explicit and made by figures such as Joseph Stiglitz, Jacques Sapir, and Jeremy Rifkin, not to mention George Soros, who took full advantage of the situation before denouncing it. The crisis was therefore not unpredictable. Some of the economists now explaining the causes of the crisis very well didn't see it coming, which was also the case with political leaders of all persuasions. Derivatives that were too complicated were denounced for producing wealth that only existed in the pockets of the speculators: selling shares that are not owned does not create any real wealth and at some stage the mountain of artificial money will collapse.
Even some of the shareholders and savers among those complaining today, should bear some of the responsibility, given that they demanded or accepted annual rates of interest of 15% or indeed 20% higher than the money they had invested. These rates of usury are forbidden by several religions and Dante cast the usurers into his imagined hell. The situation will improve in different areas in the future because new discipline imposed on the financial world, and currently being elaborated, will be fairer than the discipline previously exercised.
Dangers created by selfishness. Despite the progress made in the financial revolution, as described in this column yesterday, many risks and uncertainties persist. The first danger involves excessive demands made by those who are trying to profit from the situation and reap benefits they do not deserve, be they the bankers calling on the state to grant them excessive concessions before relaunching the normal financing of the economy, or the business leaders who use “jobs blackmail” to obtain exaggerated subsidies and support. Both national and Community authorities should remain vigilant in this regard.
Citizens should put their trust in European construction again, which is the only way of meeting the current challenges. Europe is often criticised on minor or insignificant details but the fundamental advantages it brings are often forgotten. Then what happens is that the people in one member state or other begin to regret the previous decisions it made. Denmark now envisages new referendums on joining the euro and other aspects of the EU, which it previously ruled out. We will have to wait and see what the Irish and Czechs finally decide with regard to the Lisbon treaty. European unity will, nevertheless, move on for those who want it.
(F.R./transl.rh)