With the continuing euro crisis reaching catastrophic proportions the very thing that the creation of the single currency was supposed to prevent is having the opposite effect. The theory was that the currency would bind nations closer together and put an end to ‘nationalism, but it has in fact pushed those nations apart and created the circumstances for ‘nationalism’ to rise. Greeks, Spaniards and Italians have taken to the streets as they see their independence and sovereignty slipping away; France has slipped into recession so it will not be long before we see the streets of Paris in chaos.

Meanwhile the EU Commission and the European Central Bank scratch their collective heads, unable to comprehend the disaster they face. Being civil servants, indoctrinated into the EU project, the prospect of a break-up, not only of the euro but possibly the whole EU Project, is incomprehensible to them. Their inability to act is exacerbated by the politicians who have no idea how to react to circumstances that are rapidly running out of control. EU summits follow EU summits from which platitudes are issued that are completely ineffective in their attempts to bolster the euro and the markets.

In the meantime living standards are falling dramatically in the affected countries, with unemployment spiralling out of control and people struggling to survive across the whole demographic. People have also lost their jobs and are finding it difficult to feed themselves and their families. Demonstrations are growing in the failing euro states, with the German flag being burnt and images of Angela Merkel being defaced as the people resent being told how to run their country by the “troika” of the ECB, the EU Commission and the International Monetary Fund and see that Germany is the driving force behind the austerity measures that have been put in place.

In Germany there is growing anger that the Germans are having to bail out the profligate countries of south. National opinion polls show that a majority want a return to the Deutschemark and leave the other eurozone countries to fend for themselves. The German Constitutional Court will deliver its findings on the legality of bail-out funds from Germany in September and should the verdict be a resounding ‘No’ then it is inevitable that the euro will collapse. The tax-payers are also becoming exasperated, seeing their hard-earned wealth pouring away into what appears to be the bottomless pit that is the euro.

There does not seem to be any realisation on the part of the European politicians that their lack of a solution is paving the way for the circumstances, both political and economical, that prevailed in Europe in the 1930’s.

They should admit that euro experiment has failed and put in place substantive plans to save the economies of Europe and thereby world trade.

The democratic deficit, for so long ignored by the enarques of Brussels, must be rebalanced before too long otherwise “They who sow the wind will reap the whirlwind”.

David Samuel-Camps BA (Hons) Dip PA

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