Austria/EU

A clear message for the rest of Europe – ‘Not our fault!’ – continues to reverberate through the streets of Greece’s capital during the strikes and almost daily demonstrations that have continued through May and June. In Spain, the government is working toward cutting the country’s budget deficit from 11.2% of GDP in 2009 to expected 6.5% in 2011; yet the pundits emphasize the crisis Spain might face while struggling with an unemployment rate of 20%, the highest in Europe.

This past month’s weather has been a fortune teller’s nightmare; in fact, the previous two volcanos in Iceland, another two in Ecuador and Guatemala, a month long oil spill, all wreaking general havoc seem like the apocalyptic prophesy come true, echoing in shameless vengeance: I told you so.

For once there is nothing arrogant about preferring to be fashionably late.

On the weekend of May 7-9, the European Union gazed into the abyss of historical failure. The fate of the euro was at stake and with it European unification as a whole. Not since before the signing of the Treaty of Rome in 1957 had Europe been in such grave political danger. On the surface, the matter at hand was the financial stabilization of Greece and of the Europe’s common currency, but the real title of the play was “Saving the Banks, Part II.”

The euro area confronts a fundamental crisis that attacks on financial speculators will do nothing to resolve. The European Council of Ministers had to promise hundreds of billions of euros to its financially imperiled member countries, even though the European economy as a whole is not really in crisis. On the contrary, most surveys and hard economic indicators point to a strong upswing, with the one country that is in really serious trouble, Greece, representing only 3% of the area’s GDP.

The first round of parliamentary elections has concluded in the Czech Republic with the social democrats, led by Jiri Paroubek, narrowly taking the lead. They received 22.1 percent of the vote, while the Civic Democrats, the leading center-right party, trailed closely with 20.2 percent. While this can be seen as a good sign to social democrats throughout Europe, the marginality of the first round victory is still a cause for concern, both on ideological and practical levels.

The upcoming U.K. election is turning out to be the most exciting Britain has seen in decades. After 13 years of Labour rule – with the impact of the Iraq War, the economic recession and parliamentary expense scandals – the possibility of a sea change in British politics is real.

Sometimes the inner voice of conscience can drive offenders insane. Not so, the Greeks, it seems. The country’s misrepresentation of its fiscal readiness to enter the European Monetary Union has damaged the bonds of trust among the EU member states.

A decision in early February to restart drilling operations off the Falkland Islands has heightened tensions between Great Britain and Argentina and revived a long-standing conflict over sovereignty that led to war in 1982. The drilling by British oil company Desire Petroleum began Feb. 22, angering the Argentine government and triggering new regulations on all vessels en route between Argentina and the Falklands.

The decree handed down the next day, Feb.

In a time of no uniform European policy on the use of atomic energy, Bulgaria needs to choose between the Russian-encouraged construction of a new nuclear power plant, and the withdrawal from the project that many claim slows down the country’s economic progress. In its inability to reach a decision on its own, the country currently awaits feedback from Brussels that would pinpoint a plan for the future development.

The European Union’s recent summit has brought about a typically European compromise on the Greek financial crisis, one that avoids the term “solution” and hides behind the idea of a “mechanism.” Whether it works will be seen in April, when Greece will have to refinance its debt once more.