Reading between the lines, and thinking outside the box . . .
The leaders of the European Union gathered Sunday in Brussels for an emergency summit meeting designed to tamp down the centrifugal forces unleashed by the global economic crisis that threaten to spin the bloc - and its single currency - apart.
In a statement afterward, the leaders tried to reassure their publics, promising to hold to the single market, promote growth and reject protectionism.
A call from Hungary for a large bailout for newer, eastern members of the union was rejected by Germany, the richest EU nation, and received little support from other countries.
Chancellor Merkel, facing European elections this summer and national elections in September, said that countries must be dealt with on a case-by-case basis, but without explaining how.
Europe may now be "whole and free" after the collapse of communism. But the EU is not a country, and the deep global contraction is stimulating nationalism, not consensus.
The traditional concept of "solidarity," of one for all, is being undermined by protectionist pressures from political leaders with national constituencies and agendas.
The CEO of the Center for European Policy Studies in Brussels said that "the lack of leadership in Europe is becoming dramatic."
The director of the European Council on Foreign Relations, said: "This crisis affects the political union that backs the euro and of course the EU as a whole, and solidarity is at the heart of the debate."
While Germany vowed never to bail out weaker members in return for giving up its strong national currency, the Deutsche mark, German leaders, with elections on the horizon, are now faced with the unpalatable prospect of having to do precisely that: put German money at risk to bail out weaker, less responsible partners.
(But: EU PLEDGES AID FOR THE EAST)
Europe is in danger of being split by a new 'Iron Curtain' as the deepening economic crisis separates east from west, the EU has been told.
Hungary warned the growing split threatened to provoke outbreaks of social unrest and a flood of unemployed immigrants travelling to Western Europe in search of jobs.
He went on to forecast "massive contractions in economic activity and large-scale defaults" with governments in Eastern Europe refusing to pay back up to £89bn of debts owed to Western European banks.
The Czech Prime Minister, and current holder of the EU's rotating presidency, said: "This is the greatest crisis in the history of European integration."
It should have been the moment when the whole of Europe pulled in the same direction to rebuild the world's financial system.
Instead, a gathering of EU leaders yesterday was marked by suspicion and self-interest, with the economic crisis exposing deep faultlines.
The EU is facing its biggest crisis since the first 6 countries signed the Treaty of Rome to create the European Economic Community in 1957.
Leaders yesterday sounded like scared bankers who had overreached themselves, as they lined up to demand a return to the founding principles of the Common Market — or face death by national protectionism.
They have also stopped trusting each other. The apparent economic miracle that in the past decade smoothed the path of EU enlargement obscured the deep faultlines that have now opened up.
The lack of EU leadership and direction yesterday has left Gordon Brown with the difficult job of trying to pull together a global response to the crisis at the G20 meeting in London next month. It also threatens to wrench apart both the euro and the EU itself.
(And: EURO SINKS)
Bipartisanship (cartoons)
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