Eurogunea, Federaziorik eza eta EBZ

Bill Mitchell-en There is no European citizen – cultures and narratives diverge in the Eurozone

(http://bilbo.economicoutlook.net/blog/?p=38432)

(i) Ekonomiari buruzko iruzkin kaxkarrak¹

(ii) EBZ-ren rola²

(iii) Euroguneko eskatu kideak: Federaziorik eza³

Ondorioak

(a) Fiskalitate federalaren beharra

The point is that for a common currency in a federation of separate states to work effectively there has to be a strong federal fiscal capacity, which is capable of transferring net spending around the geographic space.

Without a common cultural identification such transfers typically would stir negativity.

(b) Ahalmen fiskalik eza

Even without that fiscal capacity, we observed considered public disquiet in say Germany when it was mooted that funds would be provided to Greece to save it from insolvency.

The sort of ‘stealth transfers’ that the ECB is engaging in at present are relatively low profile to most people. But when a national government transfers billions to a particular state within its federation to help it cope with an economic emergency then that federation needs a high degree of cohesiveness, defined, in part, by the dominant culture.

Europe doesn’t have that.

(d) Euroguneak soilik funtzionatzen du EBZ-k arauak apurtzen dituenean

The Eurozone will never have that. It can only work over time if the ECB flouts the rules.

1 Ingelesez: “(…) I have long argued that most economic commentary is based on fake knowledge, which has been parading as verity long before the advent of social media.

The lies and myths just become amplified by social media. (…)”

2 Ingelesez: “Of interest was the role of the ECB.

It is clear that the only reason the Eurozone has survived is because its main Euro-wide institution has breached the rules of the Treaty.

If the ECB had not have funded the fiscal deficits of the Member States – even though it does not express their QE policies in that way – then the several states would have been forced out in 2010 and 2012 (at least).

Italy, for one, would have become insolvent in 2012 if the ECB via its early Securities Market Program (SMP) had not have bought large volumes of Italian government debt in the secondary bond markets in that year.

I find it rather odd that the Europhiles are all crowing about growth now while they ignore the fact that the ECB has been operating for years in breach of the Treaty.

Yes, the Eurozone is growing now but not because its legal framework as defined within the Treaty provides for a sustainable monetary system.

The growth is because the Treaty has been put to one side by the ECB for the last six or so years. (…)”

3 Ingelesez: “While the debate about the differences across the Member States in the early 1990s surrounding the Maastricht process was focused on whether they formed an Optimal Currency Area, there was less willingness to accept that differences in language, history, and culture were significant across Europe.

These differences would make it very hard for a federation to work much less a common currency without a true federation, with its own fiscal capacity and democratic responsibility.

All the working federations have a strong cultural identification with the ‘national’ unit – Australia, the US, etc.

That cultural identification is missing in the European context.”