Frigid Europe

An interesting title, "Frigid Europe"(especially for such a wintry day) to a book by Elie Barnaby who is interviewed by the normally fanatically federalist EurActiv blog, linked here. That the EU is failing and faltering can now be beyond doubt, the underlying causes of the corruption of what should have been a courageous dream are given some airing in the interview. The following quotes give a flavour, but it is worth reading in full: It was meant to be a shock title to shake European complacency a little bit. Europe in my mind is frigid because it does not work, because it does not inspire Europeans anymore. It is a cold reality, perceived as a bureaucratic machine incapable of inspiring love, and I should say lust, in its citizens.............. Everybody knows that if the Lisbon Treaty had been submitted to referendum in Germany, for instance, it would have failed, as it failed in Ireland, and this is a very bleak prospect........... Admittedly, the politics was there. When you reach a single currency, it is obviously a political thing and a very important political thing, but by not saying it and by hiding it from the eyes of the public, by not daring to challenge the nationalistic trends which are natural within the nation states, by not proclaiming Europe as an idea, the limits of the method became more and more obvious. This dual method of communitarian and intergovernmental [cooperation] has proven its limits now. It is finished........... Nations are willing to join the Union in order to take from the Union whatever they can but not pay back in any kind of solidarity whatsoever..... The author nor the interview touch upon the crucial danger - the risk that the EU is now so distrusted amongst the peoples of Europe that it is becoming the cause of mistrust between nations. I have lived in Europe for years and am a great enthusiast for the countries of Europe coming closer together but the EU breeds mistrust because of the corruption of the EU's institutions and the growing need for it to finance its grotesque excesses even in the face of the deepening recession . The blog I posted here this morning before reading this interview adequately portrays how deep such mistrust now runs!