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The opinion piece the FT published on 3 November by Jean-Claude Piris [1], once the top legal counsel to the European Council, mined a deep vein of misapprehension that left people in the ‘new Member States' (as they used to be called when they were indeed new members) grinding their teeth in frustration. Perhaps even more annoying was that most ‘western Europeans' reading the piece could not see what the fuss what about.
Some of the points were reasonable. It is quite right to say that Europe needs new oomph, and that it must not be seen by voters merely as the harbinger of austerity. But the bit that rankled was this: “It is time to admit that the enlargement of the EU from 15 to 27 members was too rapid. Europe's citizens no longer understand the purpose of the EU, its political aims and what its geographical borders will be.”
The logic of this is baffling. It is not the Estonians (with almost no net debt) who have derailed the European project, nor the Latvians (who have undergone a successful austerity programme that towers over anything managed in southern Europe).
No, the most serious problems in the eurozone are concentrated among the old members. Just imagine if Italy could raise its growth rate by making some essentially minor reforms (the kind of thing that the Latvian government does before breakfast). Or if Greece could collect its taxes from its richer citizens (fiscal discipline there is far worse than in any of the ‘east European' members). Or imagine how much easier life would be if France's debt-to-GDP ratio was at the average for the ‘east Europeans': i.e. low enough to give the government room for bank recapitalisation without jeopardising its AAA credit rating.
These are the real constraints to Europe's health: debt, lack of competitiveness, weak government. They are deeply rooted in the bad habits and self-indulgence of the old (in some cases, founding) Member States. Blaming the innocent for the sins of the guilty is wrong-headed. Suggesting a two-speed Europe (as Piris did), with the virtuous in the slow lane, defies description.
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[1] 'An EU architect calls for two-speed union', view