A More Competitive, Less Cohesive Europe

The competitiveness pact put forward by Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy to end the crisis is ambitious, but threatens the social traditions of most European countries, warns El País. “Among the bruises left by the Great Recession is an increasingly narrow interpretation of the European social model, which fails to take into account issues such as the culpability of those who were principally responsible for it, what ideas brought it about, and who has benefited most from the imbalances that are now to be corrected.” “There is no one path towards economic government. The one that has been chosen reflects the conservative practice of most of Europe’s leaders.