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If they do not have time to read the whole 400 pages, then they can surely find half an hour to read the core analysis in the prologue and epilogue. Those few pages bring the reader face-to-face with the failure of the national politicians of Europe to grasp the change in the very nature of politics that was probably always implied by the creation of a monetary union. Perhaps one can judge the politicians less harshly on their failure to understand the consequent change in the nature of the financial system.
Nonetheless, the “shocking” decision at Deauville by Merkel and Sarkozy (after a casual walk along the beach) in October 2010 to impose “PSI” has irrevocably changed the nature of European politics. These innocent-sounding initials made financial markets fully aware that they now faced default risk in euro area government bonds – triggering financial flows that unravelled much of sixty years patient building of the single market in just one year.
“Saving Europe” is organised in chapters on the key events/topics of the period but sometimes there can be a disconcerting discussion on some of the other topics that were running in parallel at the time. For example, the Merkel Government has been steadily boxed in by the series of `European’ judgements from the German Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe. The fascinating discussion about these judgements suddenly turned into a narrative of post-War German attitudes to Europe – still absorbing, but frustrating to the would-be student of constitutional law.
The riveting quality of this book flows directly from Bastasin’s journalistic access to the inner stories of the human interactions at the highest levels, combined with his ability to weave those into the flow of history from the policies that resulted. Sadly the rush of history - at least his reporting of it – had to stop abruptly with the publisher’s deadline in early 2012. In reality, even more momentous changes may be underway with the new Fiscal Compact Treaty and the Heads of Government request to President van Rompuy to produce an Interim Report on creating a Genuine Economic and Monetary Union. They meet on the 18th October to receive this. Will they take Bastasin’s advice to keep up a national bi-partisan approach and conduct politics at the European level to “solve the crisis with solidarity hand-in-hand with mutual responsibility”? Let’s hope they have learnt about many of their immediate predecessors’ mistakes chronicled in “Saving Europe”. There may not be another chance. The follow-up book is eagerly awaited!