In October
of 2014, the prime minister of the E.U. state of Britain blatantly (and quite
publically) refused to pay a “bill” that the E.U. Commission charged the state on
account of upward revisions of its economic growth. “We won’t pay it,” David
Cameron said defiantly into a microphone. Meanwhile, Jyrki Katainen, the E.U.
commissioner for economic and monetary affairs, accepted the draft budgets of
the states of France and Italy even though they violate the limit of 3% of GDP
in the European Growth and Stability Pact. Those two states could face fines,
however, and the commissioner also noted that the budgets would face strict
scrutiny. I contend that these instances of tension between the state and
federal levels speak volumes as to the attitude of state officials and likely
their constituents toward the E.U. itself. The attitude does not bode well for
the European Union as a system of public governance.
The full essay is at "Essays on the E.U. Political Economy," available at Amazon.
