A NEW SUMMIT OF DESPAIR, AND YET ANOTHER "SOLUTION" FOR A RUDDERLESS EUROPE? The banking union is more elusive than the European Union itself

The lawbreakers of the European Union worked on a European banking union at their last high level meeting. The international press is trying to keep up with the countless meetings, but it seems to be confused over how many have already gone down. Some say 20 crucial meetings have already been held, others have seen their count reach 22.

Regardless of the number of these useless reunions, the latest had an unusual characteristic: the new solution for the European crisis, the banking union, is illegal. The meeting did not take place with curtains drawn and around candles, like the secret meetings of the Communists were depicted in older movies, but in the spotlight.

But how can Europe's peace bringing leaders be lawbreakers? It would seem nothing is impossible, or illegal, any longer, for the European authorities. Financial Times recently wrote (author's note: before the latest summit of the European leaders) that "the plan for the creation of a single institution for banking oversight at the level of the Eurozone is illegal", according to some secret legal opinions drafted at the requests of the minister of finance in the EU.

The article in FT also states that "the plan exceeds the allowed boundaries for changing the governance rules of the European Central Bank", and the creation of a commission for overseeing the European banks at the level of the ECB can not be done without amending the European treaties.

Moreover, "EU countries which are not members of the Eurozone will not have a vote on the decisions of the ECB". And then, without even the most rudimentary knowledge of the terms of the banking union, how can the "representatives" of Romania triumphantly say that "we have successfully become part of the banking union"?

This "triumph" is nothing but the expression of the discharge they've been given for the purgatory which they will force us to go through in the coming years.

In the vision of the European leaders, the banking union will halt the rush of the banking deposits from the outskirts of Europe to the "core" of the continent which is considered stable. These arguments are apparently sufficient to disregard any law which underpins the so-called European democracy.

But the illegality shouldn't frighten us. FT also writes that "parts of the legal opinion present possible compromises of the European treaties, which are examined as the base for the adjustment of the supervision regime". In other words, "discrete" violations are being prepared of not only the lesser laws, but of the very legal basis of the European Union.

Under these circumstances, the citizens of the Union have the right and the moral obligation to defend their interests by any means. But, in order to avoid stooping to the level of their leaders, they must lead their affairs based on the moral principles of a mutually beneficial exchange, even if that involves the violation of a hostile and incoherent fiscal legislation. Because this is the stage it has come to after applying the principles of the European "democracy": the corruption and theft don't matter as long as the "bankrupt" are on our side and are helping us build the Great Union.

David Green, former member of the Banking Oversight Committee of the ECB, recently urged caution in an article in Financial Times. He wrote that political support for the banking union is rushed, since it has not been exactly established what the continental-level oversight entails.

According to Green, many extremely important questions were left without an answer, including matters concerning the legal authority of the supervisory entity, the manner in which the decisions of the institution can be challenged or the authorities to which it will answer.

"The legal, political and constitutional challenges of the passage from the national to the supranational oversight are daunting and it can take years for them to be solved, not months", David Green also writes.

Green's opinion was also confirmed after the conclusion of the meeting of European leaders, when Angela Merkel said that "there are several more complicated matters to clarify and we will see whether a conclusion will be reached by the end of the year".

The reticence of the German chancellor is understandable, given that a unified supervision of the European banking system would expose the "skeletons" hidden in the undergrounds of the regional German banks (author's note: known as "Landesbanken"). In spite of the billions of Euros allocated to support them, their situation is far from stable. How did it come to this? Just like in most European countries considered peripheral, through a banking management "built" using political influence, placed beyond any trace of personal responsibility.

Skepticism concerning the new rescue solution of the European leaders goes even further in an article by Ambrose Evans-Pritchard din of the British daily The Telegraph. He writes that "the agreement from the last meeting represents a step back compared to the agreement reached in June", because "Germany succeeded in postponing the issue until after next year's general elections", as the text of the agreement repeats "the decision to break the vicious circle between banks and countries".

If, to the government in Bucharest or Paris, the banking union is already achieved, the same can't be said about Spain. Evans-Pritchard quotes a title of the Spanish daily El Pais, which says that "Germany has imposed its own point of view, Spain is losing the battle of the monetary union". How could the monetary union be a triumph to us, when one of the countries in the Eurozone already sees itself defeated?

Nothing is moving over there anymore, lying in wait for an elusive rescue from the European Union, as the unions are ready to start new general strikes, saying that austerity is the equivalent of "economic suicide" and the attitude of the authorities in Madrid against Germany is "shameful".

What else can be said when a journalist with the reputation of Ambrose Evans- Pritchard, who has been in the midst of European events for over 20 years, ends his article with "I do not see any clear proposal - from any party or political leader - which would offer any escape from the current deadlock"?

His conclusion is even more worrisome: "Someone will fill this vacuum". Unfortunately, it is very likely that that "someone" will be leaders or parties which will only provide populist and nationalistic "solutions", without approaching the causes of the European crisis head-on.

But perhaps, the European Central Bank has found the true key of the crisis, aside from the unlimited printing of Euros. In a recent Bloomberg article it was said that Mario Draghi, the chairman of the ECB, will have available "a specialist in international kisses", as he "fights to build bridges between the members of the Board of the ECB".

What Bloomberg writes is not a piece of news filtered through a publication specializing in dark or surrealist humor, but it is simply an excerpt from a press release of the European Central Bank. The new "Director General for Communications and Language Services", Christine Claire Graeff, will help "Draghi communicate his vision to the euro region's citizens and to the global financial market", as she specializes in the "subtleties of international corporate kissing", according to Bloomberg.

Will she convince the European bankers to hug their debtors, to kiss them and to forgive their debts? Or the heads of governments and states to come down among their citizens, to kiss their austerity-induced "booboos"? The fans of surrealism, regardless of its area of expression, must feel completely helpless and confused before these European developments.

How much longer will the absurd game to rescue the United Europe go on? At least until the elections in the United States, and probably, even until after next year's elections in Germany. The recent increase in separatist tendencies in Europe shows, however, that surprises can't be ruled out.

With the exception of politicians and banks, an increasing number of social strata are forced to wake up, under the pressure of economic realities and they will soon come to the conclusion that their future is not in a European Union, but in a Europe of nations, which can only reach prosperity by pursuing its own interests.