On March 10, an opinion poll was published in Italy suggesting that, despite the country's political and economic crises, more than 70 percent of Italians support membership in the eurozone. The dynamic in Italy resembles those in other peripheral countries such as Greece and Spain, where opinion polls have consistently revealed strong support for the currency bloc, despite the crisis. In contrast, recent German media attention has been focused on Alternative for Germany — a new political party proposing that countries should be allowed to leave the eurozone and create smaller currency unions with fewer members.
In the peripheral countries, support for austerity measures implemented by Brussels has waned, while discontent with the political elites who support such policies has become widespread. The 2012 elections in Greece and elections in Italy in February 2013 confirmed this trend, with anti-system parties in both countries performing strongly. Indeed, rejections of austerity policies in Europe have often been accompanied by strong criticism of the bureaucracy in Brussels — and even Germany's leadership during the crisis — as well.
Reasons to Remain
However, few Italians wish to return to the lira and even fewer Greeks want the drachma. There are some concrete economic explanations for this sentiment. For example, a strong currency allows peripheral countries to sustain their energy imports. There are also less-quantifiable reasons to remain in the eurozone, such as a sense of belonging to Europe. In peripheral countries — states that might otherwise be isolated internationally or subjugated by other external actors — EU membership and the euro have high symbolic value.
This sentiment partly explains why, for example, Latvia still hopes to join the eurozone by Jan. 1, 2014, and Croatia is seeking to join the European Union in July. Moreover, Portugal, Greece and Spain each joined after the fall of a dictatorship, and each believed that EU membership would expedite integration with the West and invite investment and funding from Europe and the broader international community. In Italy, the anti-establishment Five Star Movement has gradually softened its criticism of the eurozone and centered its campaign on a criticism of the country's political elites. None of these countries want to risk being isolated from the rest of Europe.
However, the evident desire to remain in the eurozone, and even in the European Union, is likely affected by hopes that Europe will return to its pre-crisis environment. In other words, it is a desire for the Continent to return to the days of cheap credit, low unemployment and high social spending. In essence, the European periphery wants the benefits of the eurozone without most of the costs. Opinion polls can be misleading if questions about remaining in the common currency are not linked to austerity measures.
For peripheral countries, a return to pre-crisis Europe will likely be hindered by conflicting visions of the eurozone between the bloc's core and peripheral countries. Governments in core countries tend to view peripheral countries critically and, for example, believe that they should implement austerity measures and economic reforms to clean up their balance sheets and avoid sparking a repeat crisis.
Such views have often been even more pronounced among local populations. While national governments accept the idea that peripheral members should receive bailouts eventually to prevent the crisis from deepening, such rescues often are unpopular among voters. Thus, governments in core countries have been forced into a sort of balancing act: To maintain domestic support, they have attempted to appear inflexible toward peripheral countries in pressuring them to apply economic reforms. But to prevent the financial crisis from spreading, core governments have still been willing to dole out rescue funds.
Cracks in the Eurozone's Foundation
This dynamic has created a significant political problem in Europe's core, where the strongest opposition to some of the fundamental principles of the European Union have emerged. Among core political parties and governments, discontent has been especially strong about issues such as immigration, the Schengen area, the common currency and even the free movement of goods.
As a result, Northern Europe is currently facing the real possibility that euroskepticism gains enough popularity to become an issue capable of swinging elections. Even leaders who recognize the benefits of EU membership may become euroskeptics if they perceive a change in the social mood. The growing criticism of the European Union by the British government highlights this possibility.
One of the main causes of the crisis in Europe — and probably the biggest obstacle to implementing the policies needed to escape the crisis — is the difference in visions held by Europeans about the bloc's function and objectives. These rifts remained dormant during the prosperous period that followed the creation of the European Union. But the European crisis has allowed these issues to reemerge, and it is threatening the European project at its foundations.
