European Student Think Tank

Ser­bia in the EU? The scen­ario sounds feas­ible: the found­a­tions of the EU-Serbia rela­tion­ship were laid back in 1997 with the Regional Approach (when the EU Coun­cil of Min­is­ters estab­lished polit­ical and eco­nomic con­di­tion­al­ity for the devel­op­ment of bilat­eral rela­tions), and now the European Coun­cil has offi­cially gran­ted Ser­bia the status of can­did­ate coun­try (March 2012). How­ever, since the national elec­tions in May, the IMF and the World Bank have been extremely crit­ical over the new government’s move to increase par­lia­ment­ary con­trol over the National Bank of Ser­bia (NBS).

The Hun­garian gov­ern­ment of Viktor Orbán has been repeatedly cri­ti­cised for tak­ing the coun­try down the road of author­it­ari­an­ism. After its grab on the Hun­garian National Bank, the EU and the IMF have finally decided to pre­vent a fur­ther deteri­or­a­tion of demo­cratic stand­ards. The decision comes late, but is right, because Hun­gary is start­ing to resemble Rus­sia more than any coun­try in the EU.

The arrest of IMF chief Domi­n­ique Strauss-Kahn, is likely to fuel demands from the devel­op­ing world regard­ing the pres­id­ency of the IMF. After the alleged attemp­ted rape of a maid in a New York hotel, it became clear that the pres­id­ency of Strauss-Kahn came to an imme­di­ate end. Even an acquit­tal would not safe him from pub­lic uproar and con­dem­na­tion. The imme­di­ate call for demo­crat­iz­a­tion within the IMF cre­ates new per­spect­ives on the func­tion­ing of the insti­tu­tion and its European-American dominance.

Greece, Ire­land, now Por­tugal. The euro­zone crisis con­tin­ues and wor­ries per­sist that the bail-out pack­ages provided by the EU and the IMF won’t solve the prob­lems of the peri­pheral euro­zone coun­tries. Can privat­isa­tion pro­grammes and cuts in social spend­ing really save those crum­bling eco­nom­ies? I would not bet on it and pre­pare for the worst.

Some­times facts truly speak for them­selves. The European fin­an­cial crisis is far from over, Greece is in an extremely tight situ­ation and the lead­er­ship of the IMF is in tur­moil. The fact is: Europe is in trouble.