When France and Germany laid out a “pact for competitiveness” – visibly designed as a quid pro quo for German assent to more effective solutions to the eurozone debt crisis – they were seen as running roughshod over other nations and over the European Union’s spirit of community and solidarity. On Thursday came the response from the most ardent of European integrationists, in a Financial Times comment article by former Commission presidents Jacques Delors and Romano Prodi, and Belgian ex-prime minister Guy Verhofstadt. Both proposals champion the long-standing wishes of their authors. Neither remotely addresses Europe’s current challenges.
