03 July 2012

Markus Kerber: Expect bold steps from Nein-sayers

It will be one in which like-minded nations form a closely integrated eurozone, with political sovereignty shared along relative weights before national wealth is shared. It will be one in which those who bail out banks will in exchange own those banks to run them properly. It will be a eurozone with a European Fiscal Fund (EFF) based on the European Stability Mechanism’s statutes, with powers to restructure ailing economies and to co-determine and, if needed, sanction national fiscal and economic policies.

However, the coming days and weeks will demand big steps forward into a political union of eurozone members. My hunch is that we can expect the unexpected from the Nein-sayers. Expect bold German proposals for sharing political sovereignty, for constructing a real eurozone legislature alongside an executive EFF, and for an economic governance built on private initiative and private ownership, social market economics, industrial competitiveness and a belief in global trade.

There is only one open question: will the switch from Nein to Ja be welcomed by a chorus of Oui, Si and Yes? Ms Merkel should start by reminding Mr Monti on Wednesday and others of something else [Joseph] Schumpeter said: "Nothing shows as clearly what kind of wood a people is cut from, than what it does in monetary policy".

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