Europe, the European Union and the Eurozone Crisis

Abstract

According to Elsenhans, Europe has found itself in a prominent and relatively wealthy position in the world by an accident of history, namely the inability to export its goods initially so instead having to produce for its internal markets. Moving on to discussing the foundation of the Eurozone, it is proposed that it was one in a list of measures to institutionalise emerging German power by a French polity which wanted all major decisions in Europe to be decided upon by majority voting, thereby rendering every state in the minority. Elsenhans believes the current Eurozone malaise can be solved by the eradication of Greek debt in its entirety, not dissimilar to what happened in Germany in 1953, which he can recall living through. And if Germany is unwilling to expand internal demand through wage increases it should be the one to exit the Eurozone. The possibility of the European Union (EU) being led culturally by a multicultural France is also explored.