Will the European Union Survive? Essay -- European Union Essays

"Europe must prevent Greece from becoming an out-and-out catastrophe and make sure that the same fiscal 'remedy' is not applied to other weak economies" -- Franziska Brantner Europe is a powerhouse of Western culture and science. It possesses an economy with an annual Gross Domestic Product of over sixteen trillion dollars.1 Europe’s global economic connections are worth billions to developing countries and even the United States of America.2 Regrettably for the global economy, the European Union may collapse very soon, the cost of allowing incompetent politicians to run an economy on bad policy.3 A fiscal union is necessary to prevent the destruction of the Eurozone. The whole objective of the initiation of the European Union was to create a European economy, a greater European stability and society, all with a greater altruistic attitude.4 This may all have been for naught if the Europeans cannot adopt a preservative tendency. All sides of the table agree that a solution must be met. After all, to do nothing could risk the contagion of the primarily Greek, Portuguese, Spanish, and Italian crises to more internationally relevant economies, like France and Germany.5 However, the four most affected countries, Greece, Portugal, Italy, and Spain; known collectively under an umbrella pejorative â€Å"the PIGS†, already combine for 24.5% of the entire European economy.6 This means a loss of these states from the economy could already amount to sizeable damages. In spite of the potential for such a negative outcome, the sovereigns simply cannot agree to what this solution might look like, and all the solutions thus proposed have appeared to be unsatisfactory.7 Debt is a long term problem and accordingly, it makes sense to employ... ...Dec. 2011. . 14. "Why E.U. collapse is more likely than the fall of the euro - The Washington Post." Washington Post: Breaking News, World, US, DC News & Analysis. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Dec. 2011. . 15. "ECB: ECB decides on measures to address severe tensions in financial markets." ECB: European Central Bank home page. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Dec. 2011. . 16. "European fiscal union: what the experts say | Business | guardian.co.uk ." Latest US and world news, sport and comment from the Guardian | guardiannews.com | The Guardian . N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Dec. 2011. .