Greece in EMU a forgotten … national success
By George Pantagias
The euro was born in Europe,
Europe will be born of the euro.
The above automation was supported years ago by the distinguished economist Jean Bouasson. Its verification will be seen in practice. However, the completion of the years since the entry of Greece into the euro area, is offered for reflection and reflection on the value and importance of Economic and Monetary Integration.
What is certain is that this is a highly political project. It is essentially the return of politics by other means. The consolidation of EMU is a triumph of political pragmatism and voluntarism at the expense of Euro-allergy, conservative Eurosceptics, the hysteria of neo-nationalists and the dogmatic entanglements of various extremes.
This reasonably makes the politicization of EMU a key priority. The euro was the first and decisive step for a united Europe, political unification in an era of great geopolitical reshuffles, as Costas Simitis aptly pointed out in a recent statement.
Of course, the so-called “federal shock” remains in demand. However, the changes that have taken place are shaping a new reality. A positive development is that the political forces that seek and work for the deepening of the European Union are constantly gaining ground. The Macron, Soltz and Draghi leaderships are bright examples for the transformation of Europe. They are the opposite of inactivity, timidity and rest. They bring with them a renewed ideological, political and programmatic equipment. And most importantly, it can embody the new European strategy, overcoming economics and ethnocentric competition.
The big bet for Europeans after the institutionalization of EMU is not to combine its value with the consequent values. Money is known to be the general equivalent. So battles at this level do not have accounting. Not just the economy. But something more important: The Political Economy. In words the very life and simple needs of the citizens.
Therefore EMU is still an extremely useful undertaking. In fact, it is not static at all. Its reinforcement has the potential to turn quantitative changes into qualitative ones. After all, despite its asymmetry and even its atrophy, it can activate those dynamics that undoubtedly have substantial, social and political. These self-evident truths are not understood by those who remain captive to anachronistic perceptions and formalities of the past.
The market, for example, is not what some people think is an iron prison of inhuman laws. Opposite is a field of promotion of social interest. Its necessity does not cancel it out, on the contrary it imposes the complementary function of the policy. Its mission is to correct reality, to deal with distortions, to intervene in processes by imposing rules. And to remember the Italian theorist Toni Negri, to function as a strategy laboratory. After all, economic activity and business, especially in their productive version, are liberating forces.
Euro-currency has shown that it can well coexist with sustainable social welfare systems, Community budgetary mechanisms for convergence and cohesion, realistic and fiscal tax harmonization in Europe, networks, central macroeconomic directions and other transnational corporations.
Undoubtedly, the euro opposes the fraud of absolute national fiscal sovereignty. It puts a stop to practices of fiscal irresponsibility and macroeconomic populism, which are a death certificate. As happened in Greece with the bankruptcy, due to their reckless policies, the then government followed them, especially in the period 2007-2009. Juncker, blaming the then Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis.
The adventure of bankruptcy but also what followed with the culmination of the crisis of 2015 and the unrelenting referendum, showed the best way the intolerance with which a significant part of the political staff of our country faces, the European unification. It is no coincidence that the only one who remembered the completion of 20 years of Greece’s accession to the Eurozone, is the architect Costas Simitis. Is it a difference and a lack of awareness? It probably hides something more substantial: The party system is different. This explains his constant disharmony with the needs of each era.
* Mr. George Pantagias is a Symbol of Strategy and Communication, President and CEO of POLITY SA