The EU and the conflict between Good Policy and Good Politics
- By Mitchell Blatt and Sumantra Maitra
0 Comment(s)
Print
E-mail China.org.cn, October 29, 2014
Urgent and massive reform is therefore needed. Europe could perceivably move in two completely different and opposite directions, the first of which would result in greater federalization and complete devaluation, which will probably encourage Greece and some other countries to ultimately leave the Euro. This is arguably the better and more sensible direction, as the EU would still be able to improve its economy by relying on similar countries with similar efficiencies and productivity. With that would come a cap on internal labor mobility. Although this would not be beneficial in a strict pro-market economic sense because it would prevent businesses from getting skilled productive migrants, it would keep the social fabric intact and strong by reducing social unrest. The second direction would be towards more centralization, which is the direction that Brussels and Berlin are currently attempting to take. This direction calls for more centralized taxation rules, more equitable distribution of wealth, and more serious fiscal responsibility and austerity for certain countries, even against their own wishes.
Patman says that the world is moving in the direction of federalization. "Regional integration is not just occurring in Europe. It's occurring in the Asia Pacific with ASEAN, although at a slower pace. It's occurring even in North America, with NAFTA. It's occurring again with a slower pace in Africa. Why is this occurring? Because all states in the world are interdependent, whether they like it or not - economically, environmentally, and in terms of security. Britain has to face the fact that it's no different from any other state in that sense. Eurosceptics have an idea of sovereignty that is basically rooted in the 19th century."
Yet a pushback against federalization is also happening all over the world. While right-wing parties in Britain rail against Romanians, the right-wing of the conservative movement in the U.S. has its sights set on the southern border with Mexico. It doesn't matter that the number of illegal immigrants has gone down since 2000 while the amount of the border certified as being secure has gone up. Tea Party activists oppose immigration reform as much for cultural reasons as for policy reasons.
The political influence of this anti-immigration faction has already killed attempts to make it easier for American companies to hire migrant laborers or highly-skilled engineers. Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions opposes measures to allow for more science, technology, engineering, and math graduates to immigrate to America, even as innovative businesses like Facebook say they need these workers to compete.
This kind of political backlash in Britain is the reason why Cameron is proposing his referendum. Like Harold Wilson, who successfully won the election for Labour in 1974 on a platform calling for a referendum on European Economic Community membership, Cameron hopes the prospect of a referendum will propel him back to power in 2015.
In 1975, the referendum on the EEC resulted in the "yes" vote that Wilson campaigned for, even as some of his cabinet members campaigned against the EEC. Cameron could be using the EU referendum for the same purpose: to heal the rift in his party. If the majority votes in favor of remaining in the EU, that should convince Conservatives that leaving the EU isn't a political winner.
"In many respects, Cameron can be criticized for not facing down the Eurosceptics," Patman said.
But the opposite is true as well. If the voters don't support staying with the EU, then the project is destined to failure no matter how good the economic terms are.
Europe needs to decide which direction it wants to take, but one thing is for sure: the current model is unfeasible and cannot go on much longer.
Mitchell Blatt is the producer of ChinaTravelWriter.com and an editor at a map magazine in Nanjing.
Sumantra Maitra is a research scholar on Russian Foreign Policy and Neo-Realism. His papers are published online at www.works.bepress.com/sumantra_maitra.
Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors, not necessarily those of China.org.cn.
Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)