Alfred Sant told the European Parliament in Strasbourg that many of the euro zone’s guidelines need to be renewed politically, not technically because they are built on outdated premises.

He asked “why is it then that a development that supposedly is of relatively low importance to the zone, like the Greek election, gives rise to great concern?”

The Maltese MEP said that the euro project is a political one. Precisely for this reason, it has become too important to be allowed to fail. This remains its main strength, maintained Sant, and its main weakness.

Dr Sant said that in recent years we have built a strong security structure for the euro zone. The project has been built on the basis of the enormous soft power that the European Union enjoys.

“It is operating through a battery of instruments designed to monitor the economic and financial strengths of member states and to keep their economic and financial results within desired parameters. This has given the impression that things are under better control.”

“Right from the start the euro zone was not an optimal monetary zone; it did not possess the federal structures necessary to keep it solid,” said Sant.

He concluded that over the years, economic divergences inside it increased. The use of a technical positivism to control the situation is turning into an exercise of political fetishism which could undermine the union’s soft power.

Dr. Sant’s intervention can be seen below:

 

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