For quite some time, I’ve thought of Herman van Rompuy as the poster child of Europe’s incompetent political elite.
Virtually unknown to people in the real world (his sole claim to fame is that a British MEP, in a speech that went viral on YouTube, said he resembled a “low-grade bank clerk”), the President of the European Council manages to blunder from one mistake to another.
- Whining about markets downgrading Europe’s welfare states.
- Crying about whether he gets prestigious seating at bureaucratic meetings.
- Seeking to impose one-size-fits-all big government on EU nations with “economic governance.”
- Publishing an anthology of haiku poems (this last has nothing to do with economic policy, but I can’t resist including it on the list).
- Complaining that investors don’t trust Europe’s feckless political elite.
But Jose Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission, is trying very hard to be an even bigger joke.
- Like van Rompuy, complaining that credit rating agencies don’t believe European politicians.
- Squandering taxpayer funds to boost his public profile.
- Squabbling with van Rompuy about who’s the top bureaucrat.
- Pushing for more centralization, harmonization, and bureaucratization in Europe.
- Advocating statism at the United Nations.
Well, Barroso now has done something else that deserves mockery and scorn. He’s whining that some of his opponents are happy about the mess in Europe.
Here’s some of what the EU Observer reported.
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso Tuesday (3 July) launched an angry attack on British Conservative’s in the European Parliament, accusing them of “taking delight” in the eurozone debt crisis. …Barroso’s outburst in Strasbourg followed a speech by Tory MEP Martin Callanan, who heads the eurosceptic ECR group.
Since I also experience some Schadenfreude about the mess in Europe, I suspect Barroso is right that the Tories are enjoying the situation. But that doesn’t give Barroso any moral authority to complain since the fiscal crisis largely exists because of policies he supported.
I also can’t resist adding this passage from the story.
President Barroso said he was “puzzled” that British eurosceptics were encouraging countries to leave the euro adding that this was “in stark contrast” to statements made by UK Prime Minister David Cameron.
Barroso is right. There is a gulf between the views of British MEPs and the attitude of the U.K.’s Prime Minister. But that’s because David Cameron is a wobbly statist with no strong beliefs (other than that he should be Prime Minister).
Barroso’s comments, in other words, are akin to an American leftist saying that Republicans shouldn’t attack Obama’s statist agenda because Bush supported the same big-government policies when he was President.
In closing, I will acknowledge that I agree with Barroso on one point. He warned that democracy could collapse in Europe if economic conditions continue to unravel, and I think that could happen. But, as I’ve explained before, Europe’s future is somewhat bleak because of the policies supported by Barroso and his fellow travelers like van Rompuy.
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How did Barroso get a job in the EU after making big errors in Portugal . The Portuguese accuse him of fleeing the country for a safe EU job after creating the problems in Portugal
Dear Dan
What a mess we find those countries that are in the euro zone to be in.
Some of us said right at the beginning of this so called “experience” to create a single currency that it was doomed to fail without both political and fiscal union. Far from it to be said that we were right what we are seeing is nearing the climax and aspirations of those who want an “ever closure union” of actually getting their way. Out of disaster the system is trying to protect itself by developing both political and fiscal union.
There is however a deficit in all this hysteria to save the euro. Have the people in all the EU member states been asked, been better informed of the consequences of such policies. Where has democracy gone when we can only be allowed to hear what unelected Commissioners and Council representatives want.
What we need is a complete review of the structure of the EU, not just from a United Kingdom point of view but taking into account what the people want in all member states. It has become a big, bureaucratic, out of touch, costly and unrepresentative project.
I don’t think it is only the UK people who think these points yet reading reports, listening to debates in the European Parliament you may be led to think that the euro is the best strategy that the EU has thought up. Not so
We need to protect the single market process but we must not go down the road where our economic policies are developed in Brussels.
Wilfred Aspinall
Former Member, European Economic and Social Committee
I’m not sure what the point is or perhaps there is no point! The only countries that have a prayer of surviving are Germany, the UK and the Nordics…
I believe the cure is worse than the disease, they (formerly referenced) need to let the Welfare States go and time will work out all of the issues, it may be ugly but so is the slow death.