This morning’s headlines are apocalyptic: “Global economy on the
brink”, “Six weeks to save the Euro”, “Collective action needed now”. The unifying theme is the lack of leadership in the Eurozone: someone must grasp the nettle, say
external politicians and commentators.
Meanwhile, Charles Moore points out, with typical understatement, that Europe is leaderless by nature: no one is in charge and that is its tragedy. Moore doesn’t mention the European President, who could, conceivably, offer direction and insist on fiscal discipline; but Herbert Van Rompuy is yet to meet that challenge. You wonder if someone of Tony Blair’s international standing might have succeeded where Van Rompuy has so far failed. Perhaps, but Europe’s political exhaustion seems to be total in the face of this crisis.
The Eurozone’s difficulties obviously pose an enormous threat to global recovery, but they provides an opportunity for other governments to deflect attention from domestic inertia. David Cameron
wrote a much publicised letter to the G20 about the Eurozone on Thursday and George Osborne has
said there is six weeks to save the euro.
Fraser and Tim Montgomerie have both argued that the government’s needs to
find a way to stimulate growth or prepare a defensive narrative in event of economic collapse, if only to see off the two Eds’ coming onslaught. But, as Fraser argued this morning and the recent row over a new £5bn stimulus suggests, the government appears to be sticking to its original plan.
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