Saving euro is the only game in town

ONCE again, from a British perspective, the Channel is fogbound and the Continent is isolated.

For the rest of us — 17 eurozone countries and nine other EU member states — it may not be too optimistic to hope that the fog might lift or at least lift enough to allow us steer a passage to dry land.

Yesterday morning’s decision by 26 EU countries to immediately work together to draft an intergovernmental treaty for deeper fiscal union to try to resolve or at least manage Europe’s sovereign debt crisis is not by any means the end of our difficulties.

However, it is by far the best and, in reality, the only game in town.

The scale of the response, the multi-national unity shown despite so many conflicting interests, was essential to draw a line of sorts in the sand and show to the world and the far-too-powerful markets that the unity of purpose needed to defend the euro really existed.

It would have been a calamity, certainly the greatest in Europe since 1939, if a robust agreement had not been reached.

After the marathon overnight meeting there was sense that those involved had recognised fully that this was far, far more than a crisis about money and that the stability of Europe was — and still is if things go wrong with the process — at risk.

The kind of destruction of wealth and the widespread poverty — have no doubt about it — that would have followed a euro collapse would have would have been scrapped the social programmes and supports that have, despite all of the cruel cutbacks, made Europe a civilised and relatively content place.

Health and education services and all of the other basic services we imagine permanent — and the jobs they support — would have been greatly reduced. Our children would have to find a new vocabulary to express their ambitions or emigrate beyond the economic crisis zone.

The agreement is just the very first step in what will be a long and difficult road and the benefits of centralising power will have to be very carefully balanced with the need to protect the independence we have so misused and squandered but must reclaim and then cherish like never before.

Especially as we are so indebted, so dependent on Europe, especially that we are such a small voice at the negotiating table and possibly vulnerable because our nearest neighbour and trading partner has taken a step back from the whole project.

It is almost certain that some autonomy will have to be sacrificed and that some of us will find this very difficult if not impossible. Despite having endured several deeply divisive referendums another one on trading what is left of our national sovereignty for some economic security has the potential to be the most destructive of all.

This is understandable as we have been an independent republic for such a short time and the ignominy of being a subject people still resonates strongly in the national psyche.

Be that as it may is it too much to hope that the inevitable voices of opposition to any move to move even more economic power to Frankfurt might offer an alternative solution, one with some chance of success?

We don’t have many options and the immediate priority must be protecting the euro. For the moment more or less everything else can be put on the back burner.