Monday, June 4, 2012

Reuters — Europe 'Fiscal Union' Proposal At Forefront Of Crisis Debate


It is generally agreed that fiscal union is required to create a stable system in the EZ, which is otherwise too asymmetric for a currency union to survive socially, politically and economically. The question is whether tighter fiscal union, which means tighter political union and further abandoning national sovereignty is more workable. In light of the American experiment, which endured one civil war and is in the process of toying with another culturally based on the same issues, one must take pause at the suggestion that Europe is now ready to become the United States of Europe.

Given the entrenched nationalism on the continent, and the separation of the British Isles from the continent, a united Europe seems somewhat of a wishful fantasy. The consequences may turn out to be far worse than those resulting from a failing currency union, which the UK at least had the prescience to foresee and avoid. The United States of Europe could become a failed state, especially if it takes a direction toward a Fourth Reich, as seems to be a danger. The Eurocrats would do well to ponder this deeply and not gloss over either the history or the deep and numerous contemporary challenges.

Read it at The Huffington Post
Europe 'Fiscal Union' Proposal At Forefront Of Crisis Debate
by Noah Barkin and Daniel Flynn

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