NE - TPS - The determination of a Euro's architect in the face of crisis

Extracts of the conversations on the eve of the European Council published by Notre Europe in March, June, October and December2010

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"The Euro crisis, a confidence crisis
« The force really driving the attacks on the euro is a lack of confidence in the EU’s ability to move forward in the historic task assigned to it, namely setting up a fully-fledged union, building a power designed to complete and to supplement its member states› power (while curbing it at the same time). When all is said and done, what is at stake in this European crisis is not Greece but the euro, and beyond the euro, the Union itself. People have difficulty in grasping the nature of the European project because both market operators and a majority of observers are unwittingly bound to a political model in which all power is held by the nation state, and they think that any other kind of order, such as the one that the European Union is building, is not really feasible. We might call this a Westphalian mindset, going back to the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648 when the end of the Wars of Religion was marked by a treaty recognizing each country’s power to choose its religion and its right not to have to put up with any external interference. The majority of today’s actors still have a political culture anchored in this model. Now, the European Union is a new historic experience based on building a post-Westphalian order. If we fail to see that, then we will inevitably harbour scepticism and lack confidence in the very existence of such a thing as the Union. So if you are a market operator or a commentator, you naturally tend to put your mone y on the experiment failing rather than on its being a success. » (June 2010) ..."

Source: http://www.notre-europe.eu/uploads/tx_publication/TPS-Extracts_Conversations-en_01.pdf