Europe disunited

Everyone knows Europe is straining at its impoverished fringes, but there is disunity at the heart of the EU even as the "fiscal compact" draws European economies into greater political union, says Jason Walsh.

Although most of the threatening talk of a "two-tier Europe" has subsided, recent differences of opinion underscore the absence of coherence in this thing we call Europe.

It's hardly the end of the union — the EU has always been subject to conflicting interests among is constituent nations — but the current tug-of-war comes at a time when Europe's top tier leaders have been berating the so-called PIIGS countries for failing to live up to the European ideal.

For better or worse, the Franco-German power bloc has been Europe's political — and economic — motor throughout the crisis, driving the EU closer together, but under the surface tensions are building and Europe's strongest economies are starting to pull in different directions.

Facing into a presidential election, French leader Nicolas Sarkozy has said France wants to toughen-up the Schengen agreement that allows passport-free travel across much of the EU as well as proposing greater economic protectionism.

Mr Sakrozy's tub-thumping has not gone down well with his erstwhile partner in Berlin — so much for "Merkozy".

Georg Streiter, spokesman for the German chancellor, indicated Ms Merkel's displeasure, saying: "Free movement of people is one of the most concrete and important achievements of European integration and represents a fundamental freedom."

Ms Merkel's irritation is hardly surprising. Cementing the double act, she stuck her neck out to support Mr Sarkozy over the Socialist Party's presidential candidate François Hollande, saying she would appear on the stump for his reelection. The campaign plans are, unsurprisingly, now off. Mr Sarkozy's sudden, if rather unconvincing, cooling on Europe is, if nothing else, a sign that European unity is not a big vote winner. If that is true for the French president, it is surely doubly true for Ms Merkel given Germany is footing the bill for so much of the bank bailouts.

The endless support for Europe's banks remains controversial in Germany. Jens Weidmann, head of the Bundesbank, Germany's central bank, has complained the ECB has been too profligate in its support for Europe's troubled banks.

It's not just money matters, either. Finland's foreign minister Erkki Tuomioja has said that despite the Lisbon treaty attempting to unify Europe, there is no appetite for a common foreign policy. In fairness to Mr Tuomioja he is quite right. This does pose the question, however, as to why EU and national leaders have been clamouring for ever-greater union for decades.

It is increasingly difficult to avoid the conclusion that Europe's leaders are all for unity, but only when it suits their domestic agendas. Of course, anyone in Greece, Spain, Ireland, Italy or Portugal could have told you that.

Image by Alex CH. CC licenced.