Fractious club of national leaders cannot lend the stability Europe needs

While markets and observers alike have rightly assailed the 17 national leaders steering the euro zone ship for constantly doing too little too late, there is no question that new crisis management instruments such as the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) in Luxembourg and commitments to reform euro zone governance have already moved us into a new world of burden-sharing and mutual responsibility going far beyond the original design of the EU treaties.

Of course, this came neither as a result of forward-looking political leadership nor specific popular demand. Our leaders found themselves forced to act by the escalating onslaught of financial markets threatening a flimsy edifice that needed and will continue to need massive strengthening to withstand this attack and future ones. Yet the lack of a specific popular mandate in no way makes such a reinforcement of the euro zone’s defenses and coherence illegitimate.

Constitutional referendums have at times returned hostile majorities, but decade after decade of democratic elections in Europe have sent parties into parliament that are committed to preserving the degree of integration achieved in Europe and develop it further. The mandate for euro zone leaders to do whatever it takes to preserve the euro could therefore not be stronger.

In the English-language debate particularly, the relationship between democracy and European integration is often most vigorously argued about by Eurosceptics. It is essential for advocates of deeper European integration not to leave the opposing camp in sole occupation of this vital terrain, especially as the issue of parliamentary democracy and euro zone governance is likely to move to the heart of the political debate in Europe.

For more: Fractious club of national leaders cannot lend the stability Europe needs - The Irish Times - Sat, Aug 13, 2011