The problem is , of course, inflation, which  should not go beyond two per cent ,  as decided by the democratic  rule of the European Bank. The objective is called Economic Stability.   Stability, however, does not exist in economics . Stable means “still” ,“not likely to change”  and if the economy stays still its  cycle  will  take  a negative slant and the people will be poorer .

Moreover, the European Bank’s simple rule does not consider the origin of inflation . The present increase of the price of oil is clearly not the result of  excess demand,  but  rather the result either of  speculations  on the futures market (by people who do not need economic growth ) or of  revolutions, or , possibly,  of high demand in the East . In the same way, the increase of  food prices  originates mainly from the vagaries of nature in faraway countries  , that is ,  excess cold weather in certain areas , and  not enough rain in others, and also from  competition between food and  cultivation for  “green” energy  sources. Presently , European demand is almost stagnating , and  prices  go up for reasons that have   nothing to do with its  development , or ,rather,  stagnation .
 
Immediately before that, Europe has condemned a few of its member  countries to repay their Bank’s follies  by reducing to zero the economic growth  of the country. However, you can’t reduce public expenditure  in poor countries, slow down their economies ,  and then   expect they  to pay back their  debts , or their Banks’. The only reasonable hope for such payments rests on reviving  the economic growth of the area . To push the matter to a paradox , one could say that  the only thing you can do to help a poor,  indebted country is to finance its investment  projects , if any, which would foster  economic growth.

The idea of fighting inflation to get stability  - i.e. no growth- could perhaps be acceptable to rich countries, but Europe has welcomed  in its structure  a number of countries , and  rich they were not.    When that happened, Europe’s  enlargement was correctly  hailed  as the best political operation of the Century. So it may be, but we cannot  consider  Europe a rich boy environment , as it is  an area of strong differences , with many countries  at a much lower level compared with  some of  the   original members.  This reality should not be ignored.  If it is ignored , the risk is not only that some of the poor will became poorer , but that the global demand in the Euro area  will nor be  enough even for a  relatively low growth.

Of  course , the Americans  are trying to do  something similar to that, or , possibly,  better than  that . Under the flag of the balanced budget, their right wing wants  to reduce  public expenditure and public services. This wing  represents the rich and the powerful ,  who are perfectly sure that  the poor will be kept in harness  by the media  - fully owned by them-  and do not care if the economy doesn’t grow- they don’t need it.  They don’t need the voters ,  either . An extreme right wing party has been created in few months, and it is still growing.

Europe has probably not   forgotten the meaning of  Democracy , which postulates a  limited disparity among citizens,  the State budget being  the instrument to reduce , through public services and  support,  the misery of the poor. However, they are trying to reduce public expenditure. Nor is it  renouncing Democracy.  But there is in the European construction an inner  core of not elected  politicians who  do not actually  need to be elected.

The non elected decisional centre of Europe believes that inflation is  now the real threat , and has decided to increase the cost of capital to  slow down   an economy that grows about two per cent a year. The fact is that  Europe is not developing, it’s stagnating ,  and it’s loosing the race with  competitors new and old,  who are stealing its place . The USA are now growing more than Europe , and  there is no need to write here  the numbers of the  new giants  from the East,  everybody knows them. It is quite interesting to see  that England is the European Country growing at a lower rate , the  very one  that has embraced a strict policy of retrenchment , and of dismantling  public services , in order to enlarge  the gulf  separating the social classes of the country .

The problem , it seems , is not limited to  economic policy. It is also about who has the power  to decide. It  would be about time that the European citizens demand some  form of democratic control  over nor elected public figures, who do not even try  to explain  what they are doing  and what consequences  will come from their decisions.