Wall Street Journal publica un editorial y un balance de la crisis de la Unión Europea (UE) que resume con bastante precisión su estado de incertidumbre política, económica y social.

Un resumen de las opiniones del WSJ, 24 / 25 marzo 2007:

Nick Timiraosi, At 50, Uncertainty Over EU’s Path

 

Europe’s leaders gather in Berlin this weekend to celebrate the 50th anniversary of their historic union amid uncertainty about its future and divisions on key economic and political issues. [ .. ] Those tensions have stemmed in part from the union’s remarkable expansion from a six-member trade group to the 27-member political organization that has become the world’s largest economic entity. [ .. ] Growing disillusionment over the union’s future reached a crescendo in 2005, when Dutch and French voters rejected the EU’s proposed constitution. The effort has been in limbo since. [ .. ] The defeat underscored the rising tensions between wider enlargement and deeper integration and between boosting free trade and protecting domestic farmers. Some want the union to foster greater political unification, while others push for more economic innovation. And the EU remains torn over how far it should support American foreign policy as well as how to handle a more assertive Russia.

Timothy Garton Ash, historiador, Oxford University

 

The European Union is the most successful example of peaceful regime change in our time…In every corner of the continent most people are better off and more free than they were half a century ago,

 

Jean-Claude Juncker, primer ministro de Luxemburgo

The European Union is going through a crisis.

 

Editorial, Europe, Old and New

Preparations for the European Union’s big 50th birthday party this weekend in Berlin quickly degenerated into a petty brawl over the wording of the declaration for the occasion. Some countries wanted to push the bloc’s stillborn constitution, others the euro, still others Christianity.

[ .. ]

Though it won’t be widely noted in Berlin this weekend, the Union would not exist without the U.S., which gave its strong backing from day one. The Marshall Plan assisted the Continent’s postwar economic recovery, and an American military umbrella has since kept it safe. Whatever the trade or foreign policy disagreements, Washington hasn’t wavered in its support for a stable, rich Europe.

[ .. ]

This success has sometimes gone to European heads. Some in Brussels truly believe they have created a soft-power utopia that can talk its way out of any trouble, such as a nuclear Iran or Islamic terrorism. In reality, its peace has always depended on the will to spend blood and treasure, often American. Others, especially the French, imagine Europe as a check on the U.S. «hyperpower.» Both delusions have helped keep the EU a small fry in foreign affairs. To become a more mature player, Europeans will have to pull their weight in the likes of NATO.

[ .. ]

The bloc’s economic record is mixed. This is still a Europe of wasteful farm subsidies, low growth and high unemployment, with rising protectionism and a regulatory zeal unmatched anywhere in the free world. Yet the bad ideas tend to come from bad leaders.

[ .. ]

On the edges of the Continent, a half-circle running from Spain to Ireland to Finland and down to Eastern Europe is a zone of strong economic growth. In the middle, the big powers of France, Italy and Germany cry out for deeper overhauls. As long as those economies are weak, voters will be anxious about global competition and, in turn, skeptical about opening Europe further. This explains the current unease about further EU enlargement, particularly to Turkey, and the backlash against freeing trade in services and cross-border takeovers.