Why Europe is on the brink

Why Europe is on the brink

The deepening crisis in Greece and the collapse of the Schengen borders agreement are serious threats to the European utopia of political and economic union. Martin Vander Weyer asks how much longer the dream can last

By Martin Vander Weyer 7:00AM BST 15 May 2011
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The visionaries who dreamed of a peaceful and united Europe after the end of the Second World War — Robert Schuman, Jean Monnet, Paul-Henri Spaak and their ilk — must be looking down in puzzlement and dismay.

Schuman, the Luxembourg-born Frenchman who was the so-called Father of Europe, spoke in 1949 of “a great experiment’’. Six decades on, the complex political and monetary contraption of the European Union is still a work in progress.

The utopian ideal of a European whole that is greater than its parts remains essential to the rhetoric. This bolting-together of half a billion people in 27 nation states, many of which had waged war against each other, half of which are either former components of the communist bloc or former Right-wing dictatorships, and 17 of which now share a currency, is in many ways a triumph of co-operation and political tenacity.

Yet the reality is that the great experiment has developed stresses and pressure-points that must make even the most ardent Europhile wonder how long it can hold together. The financial collapse of Greece and the disintegration of the Schengen Agreement on passport-free borders vividly illuminate that risk.

And it is not a risk which Britons can watch smugly from over the water, telling ourselves how wise we have been to maintain a truculent attitude to everything emanating from Brussels, to have kept our island frontiers intact, and to have shunned the single currency. We would certainly prefer a financially stable Europe as our closest neighbour — a strong competitor perhaps, but also a prosperous customer for our exports. We recognise the value of a coherent European voice in world affairs. We do not want the continent to regress into internal strife and protectionism.

Charlie Bean, the Bank of England deputy governor, spoke this week of the “messy consequenceâ€

The EU is a house built on a foundation of sand. The only way for it to work is for all member nations to forego all claims to individual sovereignty. Moreover, the people at the top, like our won political leadership, do not give two hoots in hell about the wants and needs of the average citizen They are focused on lining their pockets and increasing personal power via internationalism, uncontrolled immigration, and financial manipulation.