20 years after Maastricht, EU in quest for new Big Idea

Google – AFP, Jean-Luc Bardet (AFP), 29 October 2013

Opponents of the Maastricht Treaty at a protest in Birmingham, England, on

October 16, 1992 (AFP/File, Joel Robine)

Brussels — Twenty years on from the Maastricht Treaty that led to the euro, the European Union's quest for an "ever-closer union" rings increasingly hollow to citizens worn down by the debt crisis.

Maastricht came into force on November 1, 1993, committing member states to an ambitious programme of closer political and economic cooperation, all coordinated in Brussels and ultimately leading to the single currency, launched in 1999.

This "great leap forward" to monetary union was on a different scale from anything before and since but analysts say it was incomplete, without the necessary elements to ensure that the rules were followed by all.

Maastricht notably set limits for national budget deficits -- the shortfall between government spending and revenue -- at three percent of Gross Domestic Product, and at 60 percent for total debt.

French Foreign Minister Roland Dumas (left)

 and Economy Minister Pierre Beregovoy sign

 the Maastricht Treaty in Maastricht on

February 7, 1992 (AFP/File, Steinmeije)

But dangerously, the rules were only half-heartedly enforced, with the top two of France and Germany breaching the limits with apparent impunity.

By the time the global financial crisis broke in late 2007, many member states had chalked up huge debts and a few years later as bailout costs soared, no less than 25 of the 27 then EU states had fallen foul of the Maastricht rules.

EU leaders are now trying to repair the damage, with the 17 -- soon to be 18 -- eurozone countries aiming to put in place a framework with penalties and rewards to ensure the rules are really kept this time.

Looking back to the Maastricht negotiations, analyst Daniel Gros of the Center for European Political Studies says "the will just wasn't there" for governments to make the hard choices needed.

Comparing that generation of leaders to generals who plan for past wars instead of the threats ahead, Gros said the Maastricht set were more concerned with fighting inflation and did not anticipate systemic problems with the banks.

The Maastricht Treaty did not prepare Europe for "the major challenges to financial stability" at the heart of the crisis, he said.

Nicolas Veron of the Bruegel Institute think-tank said even at the time, many observers had warned it was "madness" to plan a single currency without the full economic, political and banking union required to make it work.

Absence this essential support for any currency, when the banks collapsed, they threatened to bring down the whole system, driving the eurozone into a deep recession and forcing governments to adopt harsh austerity programmes.

A paper version of the Maastricht Treaty
in a bank vault in the Dutch city on Feb.6, 

\2007 (ANP/AFP/File, Marcel van Hoorn)

In response, EU leaders tried to combat the crisis on the run, improvising reforms to put Europe back on track, said Jean-Dominique Giuliani of the Schuman Foundation.

Despite the failings, however, Giuliani feels that Maastricht was still "the last time the EU set itself a major objective".

"Since then, there has been nothing," he said.

Growth of anti-EU sentiment

It is not that the EU has stood still.

It has welcomed many of the former Communist states of the Soviet bloc as members in recent years and seeks a global role and voice but that is not enough to bolster faith in the project.

The crisis has come at more than just an economic cost -- the painful austerity measures taken to tame it have alienated many supporters of the European project.

The fallout has stoked a backlash against Brussels in many member states who are increasingly reluctant to see national powers handed over in the name of policy coordination.

Indeed some such as Britain talk of winning power back while anti-EU sentiment is on the rise even in stalwarts such as France ahead of European Parliament polls in 2014.

Today's leaders are wary of action given "the fears of governments and EU institutions that euro-critical forces might win even more support", said European Policy Centre analyst Janis Emmanouilidis.

An anti-Maastricht Treaty banner at the Fete

 de l'Humanite in Parc de la Courneuve

 outside Paris on September 12, 1992

(AFP/File, Pierre Verdy)

He listed parties on the rise in at least nine EU states and today sees no "transnational message about why the EU matters, backed up by concrete policy proposals that go well beyond the lowest common denominator".

Former French president and a key figure in the creation of the euro, Valery Giscard d'Estaing also says there is no longer any "Big Idea" driving the EU.

His suggestion -- "build Europe up as an economic power" on a par with United States and China -- is backed by Giuliani of the Schuman Foundation.

The sort of EU-wide tax and welfare reforms plus the centralised authority to make it all work seem a distant prospect, with the process needing the legitimacy conferred only by comprehensive democratic support.

For former European Central Bank head Jean-Claude Trichet that means integration requires "reinforcing" the European Parliament's still-limited powers.

Greater democratic accountability could of course at the same time leave the EU hostage to euro-critical forces -- and would also, of course, require another treaty to come about.

Related Articles:

European Union wins Nobel Peace Prize


“2011 and Beyond” - What you are seeing, and why - Jan 16, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) - (Text version)

“…  We told you there'd come a time on the planet when there'd be only five currencies because the continents would decide to put countries together, not separate them. Do you know who was the model? It's the United States. What an experiment you had! Imagine: Could you take many different states that were governed separately, yet didn't have any visible borders, and give them one currency? It worked. It has worked for well over 100 years. Against all odds, it worked.

Fifty years ago, with the end of the last world war, the Europeans saw what the USA did and emulated it. It has become the European Union. After the war, they postulated, "What if we took many of the countries of Europe, ones who have warred with each other since the beginning of recorded civilization, and we unified them? We will take away the borders and give them one currency." They were laughed at! Yet today, you're seeing it.

Today, their monetary system is more valuable than yours! Where am I going with this? Listen - here is an attribute, a postulate, an axiom of this new earth energy: Separatism kills. Unity is the survival of humanity. You will start putting things together and not taking them apart. And the more you put them together, the more you will unify. Then slowly you'll realize that the goal is to put things together, not tear them apart. What has the European Union created? I'll tell you. It isn't the Euro. It has created a group of countries that will never go to war with each other again! They can't. They trade with each other. Think about it. That's what we're talking about. …“

"The End of History"- Nov 20, 2010 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) - (Text-Version)

Europe

Let's talk about Europe - Eastern and Western Europe. Look at the history. I want you to look at the history of the Europeans. What do you know about them? What did you study in school about them, American? You had to learn all those dates and facts. You sit in a country that's barely 200 years old and you had to memorize all the battles and all those conquerors and all those army specifics for hundreds of years! Fourteen hundreds, 1300s - all the way to the present century they seemed to be conquering each other on a regular basis. They warred with each other like the tides of the ocean, constant and predictable. When they got tired of that, they conquered other continents. The small country of Spain alone is responsible for conquering all of South America, middle America and well up into North America. Millions today are speaking their language who never did before they arrived.

The armies of Napoleon spread across parts of Europe like water flowing in a river, conquering everything in its path. There are some cities today in Europe that still don't know which country they belong to! This is because their borders kept changing so often! Now, that's history. I want you to look at it carefully. Still, there would be those who say, "This is just what men do. They create borders and cultures and they go to war. That's Human nature."

Fifty years ago, this new energy started to arrive. Oh, the alignments go slow, dear Human Being, but it was here. It was starting; it was beginning. Fifty years ago, something happened in Europe and you didn't hear much about it back then. Some very clear thinkers got together after World War II and said, "If we don't do something different and out of the box of today's thinking, it's all going to happen again because this is what we do. Men make war." Even the young country called America was involved in war. America itself almost split apart before that, because that's what men do. They split good things apart. It was obvious to these wise men that they could try something, something that might work - a uniting instead of separation. And so they formed an idea. Let me tell you what it was.

They said to themselves, "What if we could get as many countries as we can to agree to become a collection of 'country states'? If we start this now and go at it slowly, we could eventually have a system where we would trade together to the point where the borders come down, no checkpoints and no passports. All these cultures and former enemy countries would all trade evenly together, and for that to happen we might even have a common currency. Look at the United States, for this is how it works there. Europe would never go to war with itself again. It couldn't, since it would be allied financially."

Of course, they were laughed at! Everyone who heard it said it couldn't' be done and that there were just too many issues to solve. Those who objected said, "No, no, no. That's not what we do. We have too many different cultures. There's some with strong currencies, there's some with weak currencies. There are too many objections. Imagine going from one country to another without being inspected at the border? That won't work. Who are you to suggest something of this nature?" And the forward thinkers said, "We are unifiers. And we think it's a good idea so we will have strength and will never war again." That was two generations ago, 50 years.

Today, you have the European Union of States. There are more all the time, way past the original number of countries. Some are "standing in line" to be accepted! The borders are gone and the checkpoints are missing and the currency called the Euro is the strongest currency on Earth - stronger even than yours [the USA]. Now, let me tell you what did that. It's a consciousness shift that even 50 years ago was developing. Through two generations, it slowly allowed for free thinkers to unify things that had never been unified before. The result? These countries will never conquer each other again, because "history" ended at that moment. They started a new paradigm for Europe and one that has no historic profile known to man. The old history of the area is gone, and it will not repeat itself.

Those in the old Eastern Bloc of Europe, where there is still to this day very little unity, will still say, "History will again repeat itself. We are victims of it. It's only a matter of time." But not all of them feel this way. There are some who are starting to feel a unity of spirituality within their own cultures that they were never allowed to speak of before. So they are free thinking, out of the box of the old paradigm. It's new.

There are those who are standing on podiums and in pulpits and are proclaiming, "History is ended. It's the end of suffering. It's the end of dictatorships. It's the end of those who would put us in a low place. Instead, it's the beginning of discovering who we are." And although they don't say it in these exact words, they are discovering the creator inside - that which is the unity of God. So it's a full circle back to what the Angel told Muhammad, isn't it? For unity was the key to peace, and still is. It is a sacred principle and will never change.

Who would have thought this would have happened? The United States is what it is because 200 years ago the founders said, "Let us make a group of state countries without physical borders in a system that's never been tried. It's one of unity - the UNITED States of America." Oh, it had its tests, but the unifiers won. And it is why this country is what it is and is seen and respected for what it is and for what it's done. So young, it is, but representing the new energy, it is.

Your Declaration of Independence was channelled. Did you know that? It was collective effort channelling by those who had asked God for help. Go read it and feel that which is sacred inside, for it unifies and does not separate.

"The U in Kundalini"- Oct 18, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: Kundalini, Unification, EU, Nobel Peace Prize 2012, Middle East, South America, Only 5 Currencies on Earth, Old Souls, Duality will dismiss, 3D Humanity will melt with Multi dimensional higher self, Global Unity… etc.)