A two-speed Europe is the inevitable outcome of the crisis, according to French President Nicolas Sarkozy. During a debate with students at the University of Strasbourg, he said that a single currency required economic convergence and integration. But he warned that federalism within the wider EU was not possible, particularly when in the coming years western Balkan countries join. "I imagine that nobody thinks that federalism, total integration, is possible at 33, 34, 35, countries," he said. There would be "two European gears," Sarkozy predicted, "one gear towards more integration in the eurozone and a gear that is more confederal in the EU."
France's triple-A credit rating has been under pressure as the debt crisis has spread towards the eurozone core, and Sarkozy accepted that there had not been enough convergence among countries that joined the single currency from the outset. "Frankly, the single currency is a wonderful idea, but it was strange to create it without asking oneself the question of its governance, and without asking oneself about economic convergence," he said. "Honestly, it's nice to have a vision, but there are details that are missing: we made a currency, but we kept fiscal systems and economic systems that not only were not converging, but were diverging."
However, a "split union will not work" and the EU remains "our best chance of prosperity" Рin the view of commission President Jos̩ Manuel Barroso. "To create the idea that we have two unions means disunion. It means separation of the members of euro area from those who are not yet members of the euro area," he said, adding that the challenge was to deepen euro area integration without creating divisions between the ins and outs. "One thing we don't need in Europe is more institutions and more agencies and more entities to manage the euro". Barroso said that deepening convergence must involve deeper democracy.
http://www.publicserviceeurope.com/article/1102/europes-future-division-or-unity
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