I blogged yesterday about Boris Johnson pontificating on the euro. Today it was the turn of fellow MEP, hard-line Tory Daniel Hannan, to wax intellectual on the Today programme.
The line was very similar; Greece should withdraw from the euro, default on the debts, or vice versa. Mr. Hannan used the snappy little phrase “default and decouple”, making it sound rather like an acrimonious divorce as opposed to the possible start of the second global financial meltdown in three years.
Mr. Hannan has a good knack for sounding rather reasonable, but if we examine what he says closely it becomes apparent that his views veer towards the extreme. He would like us to believe that there is an agency at work that is willing to sacrifice Greece on the alter of a single European currency. This is of course ridiculous; there are number of governments and supra-national institutions working hard to ameliorate a situation that is one of the biggest threats to European and global financial stability.
The problem is that Mr. Hannan seems to judge other by his own low standards. It is hard not to feel that his entrenched ideological scepticism towards the all things EU is the motivating factor behind his comments. Mr Hannan’s likening of the situation to the Bolshevik execution of the Tsar betrays his somewhat jaundiced view of European politics and verges on the territory of the conspiracy theorists. This is one of the biggest issues facing the U.K, Europe and the world. If there is a time where we need to be pragmatic it is right now. If the right solution isn’t found, it will have dire consequences for us all.
OK so you don’t like Daniel Hannan – lots of criticism but little else. What is your solution?
If the EU was truly prepared to be pragmatic, Greece would be allowed to leave the Euro in a managed way – painful perhaps, but less so now than after their 2nd, 3rd or 4th bailout.
But no, nothing can be allowed to divert from “the project”.