In my MarketWatch column yesterday, I quoted a speech from Jamie Galbraith about the risk of an "explosion of violence" in Europe. He said that Yugoslavia is a model for what could happen, as social and economic rivalries -- not age-old ethnic hatreds -- led to violence when that union disintegrated.
There wasn't space in the column to remind readers that the two countries hardest hit so far by the euro crisis -- Greece and Spain -- are also (coincidentally?) the two latecomers to democracy. Greece was ruled by a military junta from 1967 to 1974, and Spain transitioned to democracy only after Franco's death in late 1975.
This wasn't so long ago. One of the reasons the EU was created was to promote and support democratic rule in Europe and it is a condition for membership. The irony of the joint currency is that it seems to be subverting this overarching goal rather than supporting it. The New Dawn fascist party in Greece has links to the old junta, while in Spain the very concept of a unified nation is being challenged as a result of the economic crisis.
Galbraith goes on to say that another model for disintegration in Europe is the amicable divorce between the Czech Republic and Slovakia. "But I have to ask," Galbraith asks rhetorically, "does any country anywhere in the world
enjoy the sane, secure, farsighted moral leadership that Czechoslovakia
happened to have had at that time?"
The bloodshed and genocide that accompanied the dissolution of Yugoslavia into the 1990s is still the subject of prosecution in international courts. Merkel, focused so singlemindedly on getting herself reelected next year, takes peace and democracy in Europe for granted only at her peril and great risk to her country and the rest of Europe.
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