Hacker, B., (2013), “Breakup Is Not A Solution to the Eurozone Crisis”, Social Europe Journal, 25 October.
The unexpectedly high level of support for the new party “Alternative für Deutschland” (AFD) in the general elections in Germany puts their central program point back on the agenda of the political debate. Parties proposing a dissolving of the common currency might gain ground prior to the European Elections in 2014. But the abolition of the euro would have significant negative consequences.
We are about to enter the 4th year of the crisis in the Eurozone and we have to confess that only few things are getting better while many things are getting worse. The crisis management resembles a group of people fumbling around in the dark without finding the exit door to this crisis. Since the beginning of the crisis, there are rumours of a so-called “Grexit”, meaning Greece should leave the Eurozone. And as things are getting worse with the European Monetary Union (EMU), voices preferring a miserable end than an endless misery are louder to hear:
- We have had these voices on the far political right: politicians who have never been in favour of the European integration process see the crisis as a supportive argument for their nationalistic course.
- There are the concerns of the liberals that this crisis will lead to an integration jump towards fiscal and political union, which might come along with attempts of common debt management and fiscal transfers by diminishing the markets’ role and Member States’ self-responsibility.
- And on the political left people fear the crisis management with its dominance of austerity policies as the ultimate tool of neoliberalism to retrench the national welfare states without creating something like a European social dimension. We have this fear always present in the Scandinavian countries and on the extreme political left. With a never ending crisis it gains ground in trade unions, socialist and social democratic parties
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Relevant Posts
- Shafik, N., (2013), “Europe’s Choice: Risk Stagnation or Pursue Integration”, iMFdirect Blog, 11 October.
- Buti, M. and Padoan, P.C., (2013), “How to make Europe’s incipient recovery durable – A rejoinder”,VoxEU, 08 October.
- Duff, A. and Verhofstadt, G., (2013), “Europe: an end to fallacy”, European Politics and Policy Blog, 08 October.