Brussels takes heavy hand in euro crisis

FE Team | Published: November 13, 2011 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

BRUSSELS Nov 12 (AP): The European Union, never known for its light touch, is pushing through the euro crisis with an unusually heavy hand. Surprisingly, few people seem to be complaining. Brussels - and the leaders of the EU's two most powerful countries - have come close to ordering that a government of national unity be formed in Greece, that a national referendum there be scrapped, and that Italy accept humiliating international financial inspection of its books. But voters in those beleaguered member states seem weary for now of politics and the fine mess their elected leaders have gotten them into. They've looked over the precipice and seem to have decided just for the moment to forego politics, ballot-going and little quibbles over sovereignty. The normally fiercely independent-minded people of Greece and Italy - both countries in dire trouble over their sovereign debts - seem willing to accept as their new prime ministers technocrats who are veterans of pan-European institutions with reputations for meddling in national affairs. The new prime minister of Greece is Lucas Papademos, a 64-year-old former vice president of the European Central Bank. The expected new leader of Italy, once the flamboyant and often embarrassing Silvio Berlusconi resigns, is 68-year-old Mario Monti - a former competition commission for none other than the EU. It's beyond doubt that France and Germany play a huge role in making decisions on behalf of all 27 EU nations. French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Germany Chancellor Angela Merkel often meet in advance of EU summits to hash out a common position on the issues of the day, which they then present to the other 25 heads of government, almost as a fait accompli. These pre-summit meetings have evolved now into an informal committee called the Frankfurt Group, which also includes officials from the EU the IMF. And though the European Union casts itself as a global supporter of democracy, some recent actions by Sarkozy, Merkel and EU officials based in Brussels could be viewed pretty much as diktats that were not particularly deferential to the rights of national voters to shape national policies. EU leaders erupted in rage at the call by George Papandreou, then Greece's prime minister, for putting the terms of Greece's bailout to a referendum. After Merkel and Sarkozy summoned him to the G-20 summit in Cannes to explain himself, the referendum was duly scrapped. Wielding the power to withhold a desperately needed euro8 billion ($11 billion) batch of bailout money, EU leaders strongly urged that Greece's two main parties join in a government of national unity - which they did. And EU honchos made no secret of their preference for Papademos to lead that government of national unity.