Comment|Financial Times columnist Martin Sandbu hopes that Finland and the northern member states of the EU would really start reforming the union. He envisages President Alexander Stubb as the leader of the reform.
Basic Finns published a video over the weekend in which the MP Sanna Antikainen sends rude greetings to the former President of the European Central Bank For Mario Draghi.
Antikainen says in the video that Draghi has suggested that the EU take on more collective debt.
“Well, good job Mario”, says Antikainen. “But the thing is, the Ministry of Finance now has a new sheriff.”
According to Antikainen, this new sheriff is the finance minister Riikka Purrawhich “now guards Finns’ tax money”. At the same time, a newspaper clip appears on the screen, in which Purra categorically says “no” to joint debt.
I bite a negative position is not unusual in itself, as joint debt is viewed critically in many other member states as well.
However, Draghi’s joint debt proposal was only one proposal among numerous others in his report published in September, which considered ways to improve Europe’s competitiveness. One of the main messages of the report was that if Europe does not quickly get investments going, it will be left at the feet of the United States and China.
Draghi proposes a capital market union as a solution, which would remove various obstacles to the flow of capital across the borders of the member countries. Chairman of the Commission Ursula von der Leyen has estimated that removing barriers to the capital market could increase annual investments by up to 470 billion euros.
of HS Brussels Correspondent Jarno Hartikainen estimate on Sunday in his storythat the capital market union receives broad support across political divides. According to Hartikainen, the Finnish government is particularly excited about it, and hopes that with the capital market union, discussions about public investments financed by joint debt will be avoided.
“Sheriff” Purrakin is therefore ready to say yes to the capital market union.
“When looking at the challenges related to competitiveness and growth, completing the capital market union is of primary importance in order to boost private investment and growth”, Purra quoth on Monday when arriving at the Eurogroup meeting of finance ministers.
Financial Times authority columnist Martin Sandbu apparently hasn’t seen Sanna Antikainen’s video, because he didn’t mention Purra as the EU’s new sheriff.
Instead, Sandbu mentioned in his column on Sunday the president of Finland, “strongly pro-European” by Alexander Stubb as a person under whose leadership the EU could be developed in the future.
According to Sandbu, the majority of member countries have a positive attitude to many of Draghi’s proposals for accelerating productivity growth. Still, the realization of the banking union and other proposals seems uncertain, because it is politically difficult for the governments of the member countries to get them through in their own countries. The development of the EU does not really seem to be a strong card anywhere in terms of internal politics.
According to Sandbu, the central problem is that the traditional engine of EU reforms, the cooperation between Germany and France, is badly stuck. In France, politics is pretty much messed up, because a weak minority government has just come to power there. In Germany, citizens have lost their trust in the government, which seems like it no longer trusts itself, writes Sandbu.
He appeals to the fact that the three Nordic countries of the Union, namely Finland, Sweden and Denmark, together with the three Baltic countries, would take responsibility for reforming the EU. According to Sandbu, the Netherlands and Ireland could also join. This “Hansa-Liitto” could implement a banking union among themselves and also introduce some reforms related to cross-border corporate law.
If they wish, other member countries could later join this group of pioneers of the “Northern Bloc”.
“Over here the manager required for the position already exists,” writes Sandbu. In his opinion, Alexander Stubb could start taking the project forward to the leaders of the northern member states. According to Sandbu, the northern bloc, under Stubb’s leadership, should inspire its citizens to become a force for change, when Europe’s traditional power factors seem to be lacking.
To Sandbull, President Stubb seems to be the real sheriff.
Sandbu is not necessarily very familiar with the Finnish constitution, which clearly defines the power relations of political sheriffs. In Finland, the president is not responsible for European policy, but it belongs to the prime minister’s retinue.
But let’s put this detail aside for now, because it would be nice if the sheriff trio Stubb, Petteri Orpo and Purra would really begin to reform the European Union.
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