Essay Contest
2nd Price:
Written by Gianluca Rezzano, La Spézia, Italy.
Today, just a few months away from the final exam for the admission to the Euro Club, talking about Europe and a single currency is not an easy task. However how hard one tries to follow the evolution of the situation, however one tries to stay informed, it is practically impossible to guess where the EMU which is being constituted will go.
In fact, if one listens to everybody else, one runs the risk of ending up being completely confused: first there are the so-called Euro-skeptics according to whom we are establishing a very weak currency, sooner based on emotional motives rather than a solid politico-institutional, economical or fiscal basis. Secondly, we have the Euro-optimists, however, who, instead of offering exhaustive answers to the objections expressed by others, limit themselves to considering the whole matter as a cloud of dust lifted by Cassandras in search of cheap fame.
In any case, the birth of the Euro is no doubt a very special event, and when we think about it, the use of more than one currency in Europe (or at least in part of it) goes back to the times of the Roman Empire. In order to try to understand the measure in which the Euro will affect the lives of people in the European Union, we can create a kind of historical journey where the moment the Euro begins to take effect represents the dividing line, in other words, we can examine how the European Union looks like on the day it is introduced to its single currency and then try to imagine what will happen from then on.
European Union B.E. (before Euro): here, to be sincere, the situation is not too promising: on the verge of the final sprint, the Union finds itself grappling with worrisome internal divisions. One example of this, among others, is the dispute between the French and the Dutch/Germans for the Presidency of the future ECB (European Central Bank) (will it be just tter of Euro-nervousness? Will it be a collision between two different ways of looking at the manner in which to conduct monetary policies? Will it be a the same squalid race for a seat on the Board of Directors? Who knows!)
Naturally, the causes for these conflicts are various but they can be easily analyzed through several viewpoints:
- politico-institutional: setting aside the jealousies and the small rivalries between the member
countries, and the worst part being that community institutions are distant (in every sense of the word)
from the people. At least this is how they are perceived by the average citizen. In fact, the European
Parliament, to give an example, is a cuckoo's nest capable only of producing guidelines that are as
absurd as they are useless (such as the one, however necessary, regarding the size of cucumbers or the
other incredibly stupid regulation which states that taxis must be white).
- economical: here, unfortunately, the deep controversy inside the Union has a great influence
and one does not need to look very far, just think of Italy: its southern part in a crisis (relying
greatly on social welfare in addition to having to do with the lack of infrastructures of all kinds,
but also with a high rate of organized crime) while in the northern parts, although unemployment is
almost nonexistent, it is hindered by thousands of legal provisions making the creation of new productive
activities very annoying.
- fiscal: if we multiply these differences on the level of Europe, we can easily see that the
situation needs a common fiscal policy capable of achieving truly effective balancing out interventions,
but things are not doing so well in this case either: today, the fact that 11 regions of the European
Union (among which, Sardinia and Puglia in Italy) will be deprived of community financing, as these will
be used instead to support the efforts of former-communist countries which are getting ready to join the
Union also, is making the news today. But how do we explain to a peasant from Puglia that it is fair to
take money from him and to give it to a Polish or a Hungarian person?
European Union A.E. (After Euro): what will the future scenario in which we will be living look like? I don't think anyone can tell or even imagine it. The fact is, there are not many elements on which to base our assumptions, more or less well-founded... but what could be worse perhaps, is that the few elements at our disposal lead us to foresee a not very attractive situation.
In fact, the introduction of a single currency carries important consequences. For example, the impossibility to institute exchange policies, the need to maintain book-keeping in order (and how many sacrifices we must do to achieve this) in addition to a series of aspects which cannot be studied in depth here. If we add to all of this the fact that in Europe, labor force mobility is very low and that the rigorous tendency for pecuniary salaries to drop is very strong, we have put the finishing touch to the matter.
As if this was not enough, we must also take into account the fact that incredibly misinformed European citizens are taking the risk of jumping into empty space by walking blindly towards the Euro. And this situation, I'm afraid to say, is only due to the absurd behavior of community, as well as national, institutions of the various member countries. In fact, instead of preparing a series of information campaigns presenting the population with the all of advantages and, most importantly, all of the risks involved in adopting a single currency, all they do is swamp the Union with brochures whose intellectual level is an insult to whoever reads them but which do however contain exhaustive explanation on the price of a newspaper in Euro as compared to the present currency.
The unpleasant impression we get from all of this is that the motivation behind the Euro is often more for considerations of nationalistic prestige than for other reasons, which because of this, leads governments (or other community institutions) to play the same little game where the less people know, the better. I hope it will not go unnoticed that such behavior would be stupid as well as dangerous. The European Union may be built in many ways but only if the population is firmly convinced that they want to adhere to this ideal will its construction stand firm. But can this convinced adherence exist in those who feel confused or worse, feel that they are being for a ride?
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