Events

The Schuman Report on Europe, the State of the Union 2012 (in French version) produced under the management of Thierry Chopin and Michel Foucher was presented to the European Commission Representation in France with many personalities in attendance, including former European Central Bank President, Jean-Claude Trichet, Joachim Bitterlich, Executive Vice-Chairman for International Affairs at Veolia Environment and member of the Foundation's Scientific Committee, as well as Jacques Barrot, former Minister, former European Commissioner, member of the Constitutional Council and member of the Foundation's board.

After a few words of welcome on the part of Anne Houtman, the head of the European Commission Representation in France, Robert Schuman Foundation Chairman, Jean-Dominique Giuliani, presented the 2012 Report, the content of which was written during the sovereign debt crisis; he insisted on the weaknesses inherent to the governance of the European Union and the euro zone in particular. "We knew that European governance was complicated. It has been the Union's weak point during the crisis, to the extent of making it worse; this has led to serious doubts," he explained. Given the degree of the crisis, "we expected some strong decisions" - beyond the community or intergovernmental method.

Former European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet explained the four phases that have been disrupting the world since August 2007. He explained that "since 2007 we have been experiencing a developed country crisis," the worst since the Second World War:

• phase 1 : 9th August 2007, the ECB took the first "non-standard" step in the crisis by providing unlimited liquidity at a fixed rate to the commercial banks that asked for it.

• phase 2: from August 2007 to mid September 2008 –heralded the start of turbulence on the money markets in the developed countries and the collapse of Lehman Brothers.

• phase 3: mid-September 2008 to the end of 2009: the financial crisis worsened in all developed countries. It was a world crisis whose the epicentre was in the USA.

• phase 4 since the beginning of 2010 until today: the world crisis is hitting "sovereign risks and the signature of developed countries". The epicentre of the crisis moved to Europe and to the euro zone in particular.

Jean-Claude Trichet insisted on the fact that the crisis reveals the strengths and also the weaknesses of European governance. The reasons that now call on Europeans to stand together have never been so great as today. He defines "austerity as a return to wisdom", the implementation of common sense strategies. "The time is not right for complacency," he concluded.

Thierry Chopin, Studies Director at the Robert Schuman Foundation presented the 2012 Report as a whole. In his opinion the issue of time is the focus of the 2012 Report. There is "tension between time scales in Europe: that of democracy, that of diplomatic negotiations and market time".