My old schoolfriend Finnbarr O'Driscoll says that the dream of a United States of Europe can never be realised because the historical, political and cultural gap between northern and southern Europe is too wide.
If one had any illusions about the huge obstacles in the way of creating a truly federal Europe one only has to look at the figures of the perceived levels of public sector corruption published by Transparency International for the different countries in 2011. Leaving aside the former Soviet-bloc countries, the north-south divide is revealed for all to see. The opportunities for corruption become ever greater as one travels south, so much so that a Norwegian pastor is in a state of something more than just culture shock by the time he reaches the gates of Naples!
The Scandinavian countries all score 9 or above out of 10 on the Transparency International Index, while the Netherlands, Switzerland, Iceland, Luxembourg, and Germany are ranked between 8 and 9. Austria, the UK, Belgium and Ireland stand uneasily between 7 and 8, with France bringing up the rear on 7.0. After that the "Club Med" countries share the rankings with those of central and Eastern Europe, all the way down to Greece at 3.4 and Bulgaria at 3.3. One interesting result is the marked difference between Spain (6.2) and Italy (3.9).
About the only good thing to come out of the Euro crisis is the awareness of just what is involved in building a proper entity. At the moment, the whole thing is a mess from almost every point of view - politically, economically, financially, diplomatically and democratically. It's not all dire but if we are not prepared to make the necessary effort, we might as well stop pussyfooting about and forget the whole thing.
If one had any illusions about the huge obstacles in the way of creating a truly federal Europe one only has to look at the figures of the perceived levels of public sector corruption published by Transparency International for the different countries in 2011. Leaving aside the former Soviet-bloc countries, the north-south divide is revealed for all to see. The opportunities for corruption become ever greater as one travels south, so much so that a Norwegian pastor is in a state of something more than just culture shock by the time he reaches the gates of Naples!
The Scandinavian countries all score 9 or above out of 10 on the Transparency International Index, while the Netherlands, Switzerland, Iceland, Luxembourg, and Germany are ranked between 8 and 9. Austria, the UK, Belgium and Ireland stand uneasily between 7 and 8, with France bringing up the rear on 7.0. After that the "Club Med" countries share the rankings with those of central and Eastern Europe, all the way down to Greece at 3.4 and Bulgaria at 3.3. One interesting result is the marked difference between Spain (6.2) and Italy (3.9).
About the only good thing to come out of the Euro crisis is the awareness of just what is involved in building a proper entity. At the moment, the whole thing is a mess from almost every point of view - politically, economically, financially, diplomatically and democratically. It's not all dire but if we are not prepared to make the necessary effort, we might as well stop pussyfooting about and forget the whole thing.
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