Eurozone finance ministers are meeting this evening. It is, let's say, the rescue of the European economy that is at stake ...
Yes and it is not won. In a way, the European countries did the easiest yesterday by blowing up the 3% public deficit rule, which is put on hold, whose act. But now, and this is the subject of the meeting this evening, the finance ministers must decide what they will do if a country like Italy for example is obliged to ask for financial aid from its neighbors. For Bruno Le Maire, things are clear, he told us: either we show solidarity and we help him, or it is the end of the European project and everything collapses. This is what will be played this week.
But what does solidarity mean?
Since the euro zone crisis, there has been what is called the European Stability Mechanism, a fund of 400 billion euros which can be mobilized to help the countries of the euro zone. The problem is that not all countries agree on how this fund can be operated. The countries of Northern Europe as well as the Netherlands say that if we help a country, we must impose strict conditions on it: in the case of Italy, that would mean putting it under surveillance by others. Many other countries, including France, consider this to be absolutely unthinkable. In short, tensions are high between European countries. If Europe survives this crisis, it will have made a quantum leap towards more solidarity, towards a real political project. Otherwise, the European project will have been a parenthesis of a few decades.