Page 6 | New Europe
NEW EUROPE
March 28 - April 3, 2010
ANALYSIS
New Europe content partner
POLITICS
Greece, a case for restructuring
PLANNING EUROPE
By Jorgo Chatzimarkakis MEP
The 2020 strategy
depends on EU’s
international policies
By Richard Youngs
The debates that have finally produced the EU’s 2020
strategy have been vibrant and in part cathartic. Many
issues have been thrown into the mix. Thinking has certainly moved forward admirably and broadened out to
include necessary considerations that were not taken into
account when the now-expiring Lisbon agenda was elaborated. Prompted by the Greek imbroglio, 2020 identifies
the need for better macro-economic coordination to
underpin the targets on employment, education, research
and development, and green growth. The new package
looks far more political than the narrower technical set of
Lisbon targets.
But there remains one challenge that Europe must more
fully confront: the relationship between the 2020 strategy
and the broader international dimensions of EU economic policy. Lisbon was conceived to augment the EU’s general level of international competitiveness but it did not
redress Europe’s relative decline. Its 2020 successor must
incorporate such a dimension.
The lack of any link between the 2020 economic strategy
and the parallel debate over the External Action Service is
striking. Two of the debates that currently dominate
Brussels politics are taking place in separate universes.
Achieving competitiveness targets will depend on Europe
fostering an open and interdependent international system.
Yet, it has so far developed no coherent foreign policy
vision for the next decade that would help shore up 2020
economic targets.
To the extent that there is an emerging European vision on
this international dimension, it is unduly ad hoc, defensive
and reactive. EU President Van Rompuy suggests we
defend a mythical European way of life, hunkering down
against the encroaching multi-polar world beyond. Since
the G20 promised last year to move to concluding the
Doha Round, the EU has done little toward this end. It has
focused its efforts on a plethora of bilateral trade deals,
which have not progressed smoothly, as industrial lobbies
have exerted their influence on member state governments.
Green tariffs have emerged as a surreptitious instrument of
new protectionism. The 2020 strategy may repeat familiar
commitments to support trade liberalization, but it does so
with little apparent urgency and without introducing any
new measures that accord such backing real substance.
The EU’s much-vaunted Global Adjustment Fund has
offered remedial more than forward-looking capacitybuilding funding – it has served to protect Europe from
globalism rather than prepare it to prosper in the postWestern world. Of course, reforms to social systems and
labor markets have been pushed back in nearly all member
states.
No amount of ambitious and sophisticated set of targets
will suffice in the absence of a less introspective European
vision for the reshaped world order. The 2020 debates have
mostly focused on the shortcomings of the open method
of coordination. But the bigger picture can easily get lost
amidst endless discussions over the precise mechanisms for
setting and monitoring targets. A different process will not
in itself suffice if the EU’s broader economic policies continue drifting in the wrong direction.
Europe does not have 10 years to get its geopolitical act
together. It already lags behind in reacting to the structural
changes afoot in the international system. The danger is
that by focusing on the year 2020 the EU just pushes off
reform and its international repositioning, replaying the
very same dearth of immediacy that rendered the Lisbon
strategy a failure. In the midst of Europe’s current travails,
the ritual instinct is to repeat ad nauseam the mantra of
‘more Europe’. But more coordination is not an end in
itself, if it is pointed at mistaken aims.
Richard Youngs is Director General of FRIDE.
Jorgo Chatzimarkakis
In its 3000 years of history
Greece
has
suffered
through many crises. Now
the country needs support
to restructure itself - otherwise it could face a wave of
emigration. And Germany
should stand by Greece’s
side because a friend in
need is a friend indeed.
Crete in summer 1960: The
Germans have arrived.
They are not equipped with
sun lotion but with mouth
mirrors and tape measures.
A commission of German
industrialists has come to
the little mountain village
to recruit guest workers. It
is an atmosphere like on a
horse market, including the
dental check. Only the best
and strongest men are
accepted. My father presents himself to the commission. Three months later
he works in a steel construction site in the
German city of Duisburg,
sweating for the economical
miracle. In the year of 1960
Greece is politically torn.
The economy is depressed.
Those that have the chance
will seek good fortune elsewhere. Today we are in a
similar situation; with different conditions of course.
The country has greatly
developed. But those who
are young and well educated still emigrate. Greece,
with its old heritage and
hospitable people, has
become a country that
needs restructuring. Talking
about Greece and the euro
crisis nowadays implies
knowing the horrifying
numbers: 12.7% budget
deficit and almost 300 billion euro of debt. Financial
speculators have heavily
attacked the country.
At the summit of 25/26
March the European Heads
of State and Government
decided to provide Greece
with financial help if necessary. This is a clear support
of the austerity measures
implemented by the Greek
Prime Minister Papandreou.
But loans can only be a short
term solution. In order to
have a sustainable solution
we need another kind of
support: Greece needs substantial help to become selfsufficient. To be precise: The
EU should delegate a commission to import so-called
“good governance” to the
country. Furthermore the
EU should send a special
representative to control the
distribution of all possibly
funds to Greece. These concrete measures are the necessary next step to handle
future crises. Up to now the
country unfortunately lacks
good administration and
implementation of law. An
example: The Greek solar
energy act - the most modern and forward thinking in
the world. Unfortunately the
act is not currently being
implemented. A change in
Greece requires a change in
mentality - and this can be
achieved by the Greeks
themselves- but those who
reside outside of the country: The seven million
Diaspora Greeks or people
of Greek origin are challenged to demonstrate their
solidarity with their old
home country by investing
capital - and I am especially
referring to intellectual capiADVERTISEMENT
tal. According to the
DAAD (German Academic
Exchange Service) a considerable part of professors at
Greek universities spend at
least some of their studies in
Germany. Greece should
further motivate young academics to return to their
home country to prevent
brain-drain.
Germany
should admit that is has
enormously profited from
the European internal market. The German trade surplus is tremendous compared to that of Greece. The
German food wholesale
chains have taken over a lot
of the logistical management in Greece and are now
almost a monopoly; the
Greeks are merely onlookers
in their own country. Why
don’t the chain stores broaden their range by adding
Greek quality products?
Germany should not confront the Greeks with “onefinger-salutes” nor with
claims to sell islands or to
exclude the country from
the Eurozone - this will only
cause offence. Until now the
Greeks have considered the
Germans to be reliable
friends. And a friend in need
is a friend indeed. Germany
should therefore support
Greece’s will to change.
Only then would our Greek
au-pair Eleni have a chance
to find a job in her home
country. In the past I have
unsuccessfully tried for years
to find a Greek au-pair for
my daughters. Only now
with the beginning of the
financial crisis are young
Greeks willing to come to
Germany.
Unfortunately this alludes
that Greece is back where it
started: Greece may once
again become a country of
emigration. We must ensure
that those who leave the
country, will return back
home eventually. This
should be a priority because
we have a lot to lose.
And one last idea: Why
not spend our next holiday
in Greece? That would be a
definite win-win-situation.
Jorgo Chatzimarkakis is a
member of the European
Parliament, president of the
German-Hellenic
trade
association as well as the vice
president of the World
Hellenic Interparliamentary
Association (WHIA)