"More Europe!"

The "More Europe" refrain is trumpeted so often as the solution to save the European Union that I'm no longer sure what this means. Philosophically, sure, it implies binding the continent's monetary union to a political one so that Germany's currency isn't tied to Greece's without the premise that they'll also share fiscal and political decision-making. But practically, does it give the world a physical continent and political entity that's more socially and economically equal, committed to an environmentally sustainable future, and politically liberal? Or does it birth one that's more economically straitjacketed, bound by familiar voting blocs and out-of-balance demographics, and nervous about foreigners, particularly African and Muslim ones, in their midst?

That European countries long ago committed themselves to a thick social safety net isn't the sole reason that so many of them find themselves so desperate. In fact, the governments that are the strongest social democracies -- Scandinavia, minus Iceland -- are doing just fine, thank you very much. The numerous poor business decisions by the continent's banks, from subprime mortgage to subprime sovereign debt, are also very responsible, thus requiring governments to pledge billions of dollars to be the banks' backstops. Then again, governments such as Italy's, Spain's and Hungary's et al don't find themselves in such precarious positions because of global capital forces totally beyond their control.

The historian Tony Judt would often write that Europe's social welfare system was developed in the postwar years to guard against future economic crises creating political catastrophes -- out of the war, new shared identity and mission were born. However, such a moment hasn't yet happened in the post-September 2008 world. This is probably because the contemporary failings were, at least in part, of the personal checkbook. It's much easier to blame your Greek neighbors for living lavishly without earning it than it is to blame a whole country for being ruthlessly ruled by one of world history's most evil collection of men, no? What creates the spark for this needed shared identity is unclear to me, though. That takes much more than bimonthly political summits, no?

All the uttering of "More Europe" most strongly reminds me of the old "More Cowbell" sketch with Will Ferrell on "Saturday Night Live." A clip of it is above.