European Agenda - Home - 28 June 2011. COMMUNIQUES DE PRESSE Recherche de communiqués de presse - Rapid. Summaries of EU legislation. The Job the EU Should Actually Be Doing - Michael G. Jacobides and Martin Bruncko. The European Union has run out of steam.
First constructed to defuse tensions following two world wars and help create a bigger and deeper marketplace, it was then refurbished as an aspirational club to which poorer southern European and former Soviet Bloc countries could belong. Its success automatically bred legitimacy in the eyes of its citizens. However, as the financial and economic crisis brings this machine for economic growth and convergence to a halt, more and more Europeans are starting to question whether we really need the EU. The south feels the pain of tough austerity measures and loss of sovereignty; the north is increasingly uneasy about subsidizing Europe’s “profligate brethren,” corrupt politicians, inefficient state apparatus, and unsustainable lifestyle.