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RIP Europe: The Slow Death of the European Union
The meeting of the 27 EU member states today will do nothing to solve the crisis of Europe argues a new report being released by the Centre for Independent Studies (CIS) today.
In Europe’s Painful Farewell: An Essay on the Decline of the Old World, CIS Research Fellow and German economist Dr Oliver Marc Hartwich argues that no matter how many rescue packages are announced or meetings held, the current European crisis is the beginning of the decline of the European model.
‘The current attempts to rescue Europe are like plugging a leaking bucket, eventually there are too many holes to plug and the bucket breaks,’ says Dr Oliver Marc Hartwich.
The European Union has not been a successful model to organise and coordinate European affairs and now Europe is unable to deal with current challenges effectively.
The three main challenges for Europe are –
- The state of public finances
- An ageing population
- Integration of migrants from other cultural backgrounds
‘It is no secret that many European countries are drowning in a sea of debt, however, demography and disintegration will also play a major role in the decline of Europe.’
The European population is ageing and living longer, this combined with a lower than replacement level birth rate means that the high debt racked up today will have to be paid off by an even smaller working population whilst they support the older population too.
‘Public debt and a shrinking working population is a recipe for disaster and unfortunately this scenario is already programmed in.’
Increased migration is often mentioned as a solution, however, Europe has proven that it is often very poor at helping to integrate migrants into mainstream society. This lack of integration is another key challenge that Europe is ill equipped to overcome.
‘The future of Europe looks very bleak but the lessons of high public debt, ageing populations and the failure to integrate migrants should be heeded by Australian policy makers and politicians.’
Oliver Marc Hartwich is a Research Fellow at the Centre for Independent Studies. He is available for comment.
