madam president what a funny old european union it is isn t it
last saturday afternoon after a jolly good lunch at the élysée the european leaders stood on the steps and they talked with fairly weak smiles about solidarity
the smiles were weak of course because president sarkozy's us-style bail-out plan had already collapsed into the dust
but nonetheless united we stand is what was said
and yet with almost comic hypocrisy the german chancellor decided that german interests come first and european interests come second and she acted and perhaps for the first time in years she got loud applause from her own electorate
of course it was the irish that started this trend the week before by going their own way and my admiration for ireland grows by the day
but i think the last week is going to prove to be the watershed moment for this entire european project
you see the only way to stop countries acting in their own national interest is to take that power away from them to form a treasury department there in frankfurt that has power over tax and power over government spending
indeed i have heard some of the eu extremists this afternoon effectively call for that
yet you cannot do it because it will not command public support
in fact to do that would be even more unpopular than your hated lisbon treaty
no it is more likely that what has happened in the last week marks the beginning of the end
the markets are saying it already
italian government bonds now yield one more than german- or french-issued government bonds
the markets are saying that economic and monetary union will not last
and i am not surprised because it never was an optimal currency zone
one interest rate could never fit all these different countries and you have never had proper public support
but it must be one thing or the other
it is either a full eu state that controls everything or it is disintegration and back to national control
the credit crunch is hitting and hurting all of us but i see a speck of light at the end of the tunnel
i see a dividend possibly the beginning of the end of this whole mad and unwanted project
