The institutional design of the Euro plays a central role in the EU crisis. A reform of the common currency would require taking at least part of the competitive pressure off the southern European countries. Without high wage settlements in Germany, EU-wide coordinated state-investment programs for ecological and social projects and an effective regulation and control of financial markets, this will, however, not happen.
Instead, the EU institutions, with Germany at the forefront, have been forcing austerity programs on Southern European countries for years now, undermining democracy and the welfare state. In the meantime, the failure of this policy has become self-evident.
In Southern Europe, people are experiencing the rescue of the Euro as a succession of humiliations through …
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