EU: "Rompuying along" - ANGLO-SAXON EURO SCEPTICS THE MAIN SOURCE OF THE PROBLEM

"Three headaches obsess Brussels at this moment ( say Eurosceptics) . First comes the spectre of a euro-area crisis. Senior figures say it is a question of “when not if” external aid is sent to prevent cash-strapped Greece from defaulting on its debts. Second : Under the Lisbon treaty summits are meant to take place in Brussels, hosted by the new permanent president of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy. But Spain, which holds the rotating EU presidency until June 30th, insisted on inviting Mr Obama to Madrid. He has now made clear he is not coming. A third headache is the “EU 2020 reform agenda”, a ten-year plan to make Europe dynamic by administrative fiat. The 2020 agenda is to be discussed at an informal summit called by Mr Van Rompuy on February 11th. EU leaders hope to build on the rubble of the 2000 Lisbon agenda, whose stated aim was to make the EU “the most dynamic and competitive knowledge-based economy in the world by 2010 capable of sustainable economic growth with more and better jobs and greater social cohesion and respect for the environment.” It failed.

Lisbon failed because lots of Europeans do not want to live in the most dynamic and competitive economy in the world. They prefer to work fewer hours than Americans or Japanese (about 10% fewer, on average), to take long holidays, and to retire as soon as possible. Among EU leaders it is fashionable to predict that the financial crisis will lead to a revolution in “European economic governance”. Yet that phrase hides a dearth of new ideas", they say.

Note EU-Digest: The Anglo-Saxons Euro-sceptics and their friends in the press just love to bad-mouth the EU, don't they? The most obvious reason Mr. Obama snubbed the EU Summit has probably all to do with Afghanistan, where the Europeans have been reluctant to support the US with additional troops and to help keeping a corrupt local government propped up. If there is a problem today in the EU, the Anglo-Saxon Euro-Sceptics are probably the main cause of it.

For the complete report also see: Charlemagne: Rompuying along | The Economist