If he does succeed in implementing it, this will undoubtedly be the most important project of his term of office. If he fails, it will be remembered as an unsuccessful rendezvous. For it will then have marked the start of the dismantling of the European construction. For a week now, by taking up the idea (that has been raised in L'Express on July 6th, 2015), namely that of a parliament for the eurozone countries - composed of European parliamentarians and/or members of national parliaments, to impose control over a future European economic government, the latter being responsible for organizing fiscal solidarity and compliance with common standards, the French president has crossed the Rubicon: Without explicitly saying so, by calling for the formation of a eurozone government, he recognizes that the European Union must not be allowed to remain what it is, or it will fail and fall apart, and that, in particular, the future of the eurozone is to quickly become a federal eurozone, or else face 'explosion.' Thus, François Hollande acknowledges that he now leads and conducts a federalist project. He assumes, therefore, the responsibility of contradicting the view and philosophy of a large majority from his camp and agreeing with that of a large minority from the opposing camp. In other words: He opposes some of the socialists and is expected to be approved by the Democratic Movement (MoDem) and a number of members of 'The Republicans' party. Therefore, let's await with impatience the Franco-German proposals that should follow and that will refine this project, currently in its inception phase. Germany will most likely, perhaps, emphasize control while France will most likely focus on solidarity. There is nothing wrong with that: Both are necessary. Let's also look forward with amusement to the range of likely responses of the French political parties, which will have to break their deafening silence in order to start this movement and position themselves before it. It is no small task because such an initiative would organize everything in a political project. Let us wait and see how politicians on all sides will try to explain that there is no need for this project, and who knows, that it calls into question national sovereignty. And yet, the Greek crisis should have at least reminded everyone these two obvious facts: 1. A southern European country needs fiscal solidarity and technical assistance to construct a State. 2. A northern European country needs the same thing, because the price to be paid for exiting the euro, in terms of competitiveness, would be unbearable. This is quite well understood by Germany, who was the first to talk about this federalist project. It has become clear for Italy that it will be the next chosen victim. This common sense movement should logically lead to a recomposition of the French political class. Or at least a major national debate on the nature of the federal European project, on the costs of resources and expertise to be pooled together. At this point, we ought not to be neglectful of the fact that there is the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), that will be used for Greece and has a maximum lending capacity of €500 billion. We will see soon that it will no doubt be necessary to triple that amount and finance it using appropriate tax revenues. Unless, once again, the French and European politicians decide not see the choices to be made and keep on procrastinating. As they did for Greece for many months, or as they continue to do for migrants crossing the Mediterranean. The consequences of which are well known. j@attali.com -- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.
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