The fantasy of European integration is over

When Klaus delayed ratification of a European treaty over constitutional doubts, a commentator mocked him as “the lord of the castle putting on airs”. The German weekly Die Zeit labelled him a “freedom fundamentalist”. At his last speech to the European Parliament scores of parliamentarians stormed out after Klaus had dared to question the state of democracy in Europe.

In his Humboldt Speech, Klaus certainly did not disappoint his critics. “I have no interest in a smoother and faster EU decision-making at the expense of freedom and democracy,” Klaus told his audience. “The fastest and smoothest functioning of society is under dictatorship, which we - hopefully - do not want.”

In an interview coinciding with his Humboldt Speech, Klaus delivered a damning verdict on the euro. “Monetary union has failed,” the former economics professor explained in the Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper. What followed was a little lecture in monetary economics. According to Klaus, the euro makes it impossible for the Greek economy to regain its competitiveness while requiring other European nations to transfer huge amounts of money to Athens. The only reason why the euro would not disappear soon was the political capital invested into the project, Klaus said. It would be an extremely costly venture, though.

The public reactions were predictable. Klaus’ warnings were either ignored or dismissed out of hand. The headline of a newspaper comment on his views said it all: “Right or wrong: my Europe”.

If only Klaus had said a few more of the nice things the overwhelmingly euro-romantic political class likes to hear, he would have received a far more sympathetic treatment. To find out how this works, he only needs to ask Helmut Kohl.

At a ceremony to celebrate the former German Chancellor’s 80th birthday, Kohl defended the euro with the passion of its inventor. It was beyond him, he told the gathered 800 dignitaries, to question the help for Greece. European unity was “a question of war and peace” and monetary union “a guarantor of peace”. “Of course, this is all difficult but we have to try everything”, he said and earned a great round of applause. German newspapers approvingly reported Kohl’s call for greater European solidarity. It was quickly interpreted as a snub to his successor Angela Merkel.

The two episodes about Vaclav Klaus and Helmut Kohl are symptomatic of the way in which Europe deals, or rather fails to deal, with its problems. Instead of a cold-blooded, economic analysis of its predicament, the big questions are framed in terms of high idealism. To question the policies that follow from this borders on treason against European values.

In the current euro crisis, this political climate is dangerous. The longer Europe’s political elite pretends that it will always and under all circumstances prevent any sovereign default in the eurozone, the more expensive the eventual economic damage will be. As long as Europeans rather like to listen to the political fairytales of Helmut Kohl than take economic advice from Vaclav Klaus, the ultimate bill presented to taxpayers will keep on rising.

By putting European idealism ahead of economic concerns, Europe’s leaders have given speculators ample opportunity to exploit the weaknesses of the flawed monetary construction that is the euro. The latest emergency package has only bought Europe some time. The European catastrophe is only postponed, not averted.