“Handelsblatt” is a daily newspaper published in German in which is really very good. It gives a comprehensive coverage of German and international business news and issues. On its website, it also has something called “Handelsblatt Today”, which gives some material in the English language. It had a piece recently about the euro, entitled “The euro must be fixed or dropped”. This is heavy on assertions and light on facts, apart from a reference to Alexander Hamilton and the federal takeover of state indebtedness at the formation of the United States of America.
“To survive in the long term, the euro zone needs at a minimum: the ability to tax and spend, combined with balanced-budget laws in member states; automatic stabilizers such as unemployment benefits for the whole currency area; and joint deposit insurance for banks”.
Well, the eurozone is a subset of the EU, and the EU has already some ability to tax and spend. Balanced-budget laws would be too restrictive, fetishizing a particular 12-month period: instead we have had the Stability and Growth Pact, excessive deficit procedures and so on. Unemployment benefits for the whole of the euro area are not necessarily an obvious requirement, because cultural and language differences have militated against a single labour market in the EU, and social services and public health systems are stronger than in the United States. Finally, although there is a long way to go, joint deposit insurance for banks is under consideration by the Council. But there are national schemes in place, and it’s not clear that the absence of a wider scheme is essential for the euro zone to “survive in the long-term”.