Silent majority is much liked as long as it stays silent

Many moons ago I recall having an exchange of letters in the columns of a newspaper (cannot recall which one) with someone who asserted that Fidel Castro was immensely popular in Cuba for all the things he had done for the people of that country. Without going too deeply into the question of what had he done exactly, I asked why Comrade Castro, if he knows how popular he is, had never put that to the test by calling a free election. There was no reply.

Far it be from me to suggest that the EU and its members are in the same position as the unfortunate Cubans have been for the last sixty-plus years but one cannot help wondering where employees of the European Commission get their political understanding from.

According to Johannes Laitenberger, head of cabinet to the European Commission president, the commission has more allies in its bid to re-assume control of the eurozone debt crisis - currently managed in a piecemeal fashion by member states - than is apparent at first sight.

"The first and best ally that we have in all of this is the silent majority who too often is drowned out by a very vocal minority of sceptics and critics but which is much more solid than we care to think," Laitenberger said Tuesday (4 October) at an event organised by the European Policy Centre.

"I am very confident that there are enough people, enough institutions, enough forces, that can be mobilised. You sense that the tide is turning. Many people who at the beginning of the discussion did not raise their voices are more forceful, more decisive and saying more clearly what needs to be done."

There is, as it happens, no evidence for any of this though I have no doubt plenty of institutions, particularly those that are part of the European project one way or another, will support the calls for a single economic governance.

Of course, the great advantage of a silent majority is that one can attribute any opinion to it under the sun. The only condition is that it should remain silent and that can be achieved by making sure that nothing important is ever put to the vote.

If at first you don't succeed

Having failed to implement the Lisbon Strategy "aimed at making the European Union (EU) the most competitive economy in the world and achieving full employment by 2010" the European Council, which ended the Spanish Presidency (no, it was not ever going to be an IGC) has adopted another ten-year plan: "EUROPE 2020", a new Jobs and Growth Strategy for Europe. Makes one feel all warm and cosy, particularly those among us who will be getting jobs in Brussels et al to create grids, strategies and frameworks for this plan. For sure as eggs is eggs, this will not create either jobs or growth anywhere that it matters, which is usually known as the economy.

This European Council, its participants and those who create the agenda as well as write the documents in the full knowledge that directives and regulations will follow, continues to assume that jobs, growth, economic development are all created by instructions from above. Undoubtedly, they will have those score boards as well. They did with the Lisbon Strategy. If you get more than three ticks you have achieved .... precisely nothing in real terms but a great deal as far as the euro-bureaucracy is concerned.

You have to scroll some way down to find the important paragraphs, though:

Financial Stability, economic governance and stability of financial system

European Council agreed on the need to enhance economic governance, in particular as regards budgetary and broader macroeconomic surveillance, and set forth the necessary rules to be implemented and the orientations to be met in so doing.

The necessary reforms to restore the soundness and stability of the European financial system is one more element highlighted by the Council to be completed urgently. The resilience and transparency of the banking sector must be ensured, an the he EU must demonstrate its determination to bring about a safer, sounder, more transparent and more responsible financial system.

The aim is, as we have been predicting all this time, to use this crisis as a beneficial one for the furtherance of the project. However, it is looking a little more doubtful as to whether they will succeed.