by Anta Bello
January of 2013 begun with the application of the Treaty on
Stability, Coordination and Governance in Economic and Monetary Union (also
known as “fiscal compact”), after its confirmation by the 12 members which
participate in it. The objective of the Treaty is the enforcement of the fiscal
discipline in Eurozone through the policy of “balance budget rule” and the auto
correction mechanism. In January, another eighteen months group chair of the
Council of European Union (EU) begun, in which three small countries of EU
participate (Ireland – Lithuania – Greece), i.e. our country included.
Ireland is the first country in EU integrated in a fiscal program,
which assumes the Chairmanship of the European Council, with a good performance
as its return in the markets is expected to take place in the following year. The
main priorities of the Irish Council, is the creation of new jobs and the
confrontation of crisis in Europe, with the majority of the leaders of the political
groups European Parliament, believing that the experience of Dublin in crisis
will be vital for the whole Europe.
Greece is the second country enrolled in a fiscal program
that will claims the Chairmanship of the European Council, in the first semester
of 2014. Due to the particularities of the occasion, the lights are set on how
three so “sensitive” countries will confront the challenges yielded by the
eighteen month Chairmanship of the European Council (in accordance to the
roadmap decided by the European Council in December 2012, for the Completion of
the Economic and Monetary Union) through the protection net provided by the newly
established institution of the Chairman of European Council.
In January 2013 not only the 50 years anniversary of the
Reconciliation Treaty between France and Germany (1/22/1963) took place, but
also the speech of English Prime Minister David Cameron (1/16/2013) for the
renegotiation of the position of Britain in EU and the actualization of referendum.
This referendum is not expected until the end of the eighteen-month Joint
Presidency, but after the National Elections in 2015. Regarding the Franco-German
duo, most columnists claimed that after the end of the Cold War the initial
idea about “a strong in external policy” France, and “a maybe political dwarf
but an economic giant” Germany is lost.
As Daniel Gros supports in his recent comment in CEPS, the
Franco-German duo may not lead Europe anymore, as it used to do in the European
Union of six, but it still has the major role in it. When France and Germany
argue, a group of countries teams up with either side (as it happened in the discussions
about the Multiannual Financial Framework in November 2012). Now France
represents the interests of a group of countries that demands more solidarity,
but German stands, apart from their own interests, for the interests of
countries calling for adjustments. According to the Director of CEPS, nowadays
in order for reconciliation to exist, both sides will have to let go a bigger
part of their European leadership.
During the harsh
times of 2013, in handling the European crisis, both the European institutions
(such as the Chairmanship of European Council and the Chairman of European
Council) and pragmatism and the determination of the leadership of the
“Great” of Europe (France-Germany-United Kingdom), vital ingredients of the
European Integration, will be judged.
Anta Bello is
a graduate student from the Department of Political Science and Public
Administration of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens.
During her studies she composed her graduation project, titled "The economic governance in Europe in the light of the current financial crisis". Her interests are connected to issues of European Integration, International Relations and Political Economy.
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