"Political Unity Must Come First" Aristides Hatzis

Aristides N. Hatzis is an associate professor of law and economics at the University of Athens. He is the founder of the Greek Crisis, a blog, and is on Twitter.

JANUARY 28, 2013

If you are a eurosceptic this is the time when you are justified to growl, “I told you so.” The European Union seems to have reached an impasse and the euro zone is still a mess. Great Britain is ready to cross the Rubicon and be the first country to leave the E.U. Or at least it’s the first country ready to play the chicken game with Brussels in order to renegotiate its standing. Poland was never too enthusiastic and now, despite its ambition to become a major player, sounds more than reluctant to make the extra step and join the euro zone.

Milton Friedman rightly emphasized political unity as a prerequisite for the monetary union.

Milton Friedman, in a prophetic article published 16 years ago, predicted that the adoption of the euro would have the opposite effect of the one anticipated from its founders: “It would exacerbate political tensions by converting divergent shocks that could have been readily accommodated by exchange rate changes into divisive political issues. Political unity can pave the way for monetary unity. Monetary unity imposed under unfavorable conditions will prove a barrier to the achievement of political unity.”

This is exactly what happened. The troubles in the euro zone shattered the European edifice. The crisis led to political divisions between North and South, rich creditors and poor "PIGS" (Portugal, Italy, Greece, Spain) but also to schisms in every single country: Austerity or growth? Bailout or exclusion? Payment or default?

These divisions might lead to extreme solutions that were almost unthinkable until recently: exiting from the euro zone or the E.U., or perhaps even abandoning the unification project altogether, which could result in isolationism or even something worse, like a rise to power of extremist parties touting radical agendas of nationalism, protectionism and statism.

Needless to say that such a development will have dreadful repercussions for Europe as a continent of peace, democracy and wealth. The divisions could be further exacerbated and war could be back. Not the military kind of war but an economic one where barriers will replace cooperation and reciprocity.

I am sure that almost everybody understands that this could be catastrophic in the long term in a globalized world with the U.S. and the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China) as fierce competitors. I am also sure that most European leaders realize that Milton Friedman was right in emphasizing political unity as a necessary prerequisite for the monetary union. However I am not sure that they are ready to make the necessary steps. These steps are not politically costless and we are, after all, talking about politicians.

NEW YORK  TIMES  

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2nd European Students for Liberty Conference, March 2013

Announcing the 2^nd European Students For Liberty Conference

March 8-10 2013, University of Leuven (20 minute train ride east of Brussels)

Hosted by the Classical Liberal Students Association Leuven (LVSV)

Register Today!

Leuven, Belgium

European Students For Liberty is proud to present the second edition of the ESFL Conference at the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium. Join ESFL from Friday 8^th ‘till Sunday 10^th of March for a weekend of learning and fun! This event will be hosted by the Classical Liberal Students Association (LVSV) Leuven, winner of the 2012 Students For Liberty Student Organization of the Year Award.

Why attend? By attending the conference, you will hear from top speakers in the movement, network with other pro-liberty students, discover countless opportunities for jobs, internships, conferences and seminars, and have a lot of fun with other students all the while.

This 3-day event will feature tremendous speakers, panels, and breakout sessions on the ideas behind a free society and the actions necessary to implement them. In addition, free meals and drinks at our evening social are also included with your registration. Don’t miss out on your chance to be a part of the student movement for liberty in Europe!

Your registration fee includes:

• 3 days of great speakers in the liberty movement
• All meals provided
• Books, pamphlets, stickers, buttons, and much more free material to take back to your university
• Connect with liberty organizations and other students for liberty
• Information on internships, jobs, programs, seminars, and conferences
• Awesome socials

Registration Fees

Early Registration, Ends November 15: 20 Euros (35 Euros Non-Student)

Standard Registration, November 16 – JANUARY 31 (EXTENDED) 30 Euros (45 Euros Non-Student)

Late Registration, February 1- March 5: 40 Euros (55 Euros Non-Student)

REGISTER TODAY

So many young libertarians coming from all around Europe allows you to think there might be hope for this continent!

-Leon Hernandez, Spain

Attendees as the first annual European Students For Liberty Conference in November 2011.

2011 ESFLC: The first edition of the ESFLC took place in November 2011 at the University of Leuven. The conference proved a huge success with over 220 attendees from 25 countries. The weekend presented the opportunity for young student leaders to get to know each other, learn more about the ideas of liberty and return home armed with resources and knowledge to grow the liberty movement in Europe. Notable speakers included Tom G. Palmer, Pierre Garello and Prince Michael of Liechtenstein.

About: The goal of the conference is to bring classical liberal/pro-liberty/libertarian students across Europe together, to exchange experience in campus activism, to train students through workshops, and help them grow the pro-liberty student movement in Europe. Workshops will be run by senior European and US liberty activists. In addition to workshops, the conference will also expose attendees to the ideas of great champions of liberty from all across Europe with lectures, speeches, and panels.

University of Leuven Library by Night

We will also be hosting a Liberty Fair, where free market think tanks and activist groups will have a forum to present their achievements, current projects, and publications, as well as provide students with the opportunity to interact with European pro-liberty organizations.

Regarding transportation and housing accommodations: more information will be coming soon! Be sure to check back frequently for updates.

Speakers

James Turk is a Director of the GoldMoney Foundation, a not-for-profit educational organization dedicated to providing information on sound money. He is the founder and chairman of GoldMoney,a Jersey, Channel Islands company operating the digital gold currency for which he was awarded four patents. He has specialized in international banking, finance and investments since graduating in 1969 from George Washington University with a B.A. degree in International Economics.  Beginning his business career with The Chase Manhattan Bank (now J.P. Morgan Chase), he has lived in six countries. The author of several monographs and numerous articles on money and banking, he is the co-author of The Collapse of the Dollar and How to Profit From It.

John Chisholm has three decades of experience as general manager, entrepreneur and executive. In 1997, he founded and served as CEO/Chairman of CustomerSat (acquired by MarketTools), a leading provider of enterprise feedback management systems. A pioneer in online marketing research, in 1992 he founded and served as CEO/Chairman of Decisive Technology (now part of Google), publisher of the first desktop and client-server software for online surveys.  Earlier he worked at HP, Xerox, and Grid.

He is a trustee of The Seasteading Institute; a member of the Development Committee of the MIT Corporation; chairs the Santa Fe Institute Development Committee; chairs the MIT Club of Northern California; and through the MIT Venture Mentoring Service helps young entrepreneurs start new high-tech businesses. He has also chaired the Stanford Institute for the Quantitative Study of Society, one of Stanford’s twelve independent laboratories; served on the visiting committee of the MIT math department, and as VP of the MIT Worldwide Alumni Association. He is author or co-author of two US patents.

He holds BS and MS degrees in electrical engineering and computer science from MIT and an MBA from Harvard Business School. An avid mountain climber, he has summited Mts. Rainier, Shasta, Whitney, St. Helens, and live volcanoes in Chile and Indonesia

Tom G. Palmer is the executive vice president for international programs at the Atlas Economic Research Foundation, and is responsible for establishing operating programs in 14 languages and managing programs for a worldwide network of think tanks. Before joining Cato he was an H. B. Earhart Fellow at Hertford College, Oxford University, and a vice president of the Institute for Humane Studies at George Mason University. He frequently lectures in North America, Europe, Eurasia, Africa, Latin America, India, China and throughout Asia, and the Middle East on political science, public choice, civil society, and the moral, legal, and historical foundations of individual rights. He has published reviews and articles on politics and morality in scholarly journals such as the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy,Ethics, Critical Review, and Constitutional Political Economy, as well as in publications such as Slate, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, Die Welt, Caixing, Al Hayat, the Washington Post, and The Spectator of London. He is the author ofRealizing Freedom: Libertarian Theory, History, and Practice, published in 2009, and the editor of The Morality of Capitalism, published in 2011. Palmer received his B.A. in liberal arts from St. Johns College in Annapolis, Maryland, his M.A. in philosophy from The Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C., and his doctorate in politics from Oxford University.

Cato Institute senior fellow Michael Tanner heads research into a variety of domestic policies with a particular emphasis on health care reform, social welfare policy, and Social Security. Most recently, Tanner co-edited Replacing Obamacare: The Cato Institute on Health Care Reform, a compilation of the Cato Institute’s work over the past several years on health care reform and Obamacare, with contributions by over a dozen national experts, including Tanner himself. He is also the author of numerous books on public policy, including Leviathan on the Right: How Big-Government Conservatism Brought Down the Republican Revolution (2007, Healthy Competition: What’s Holding Back Health Care and How to Free It (Second Edition, 2007), The Poverty of Welfare: Helping Others in Civil Society (2003), and A New Deal for Social Security (1998). Tanner’s writings have appeared in nearly every major American newspaper, including the New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today. He writes a weekly column for National Review Online, and is a contributing columnist with the New York Post. A prolific writer and frequent guest lecturer, Tanner appears regularly on network and cable news programs. Under Tanner’s direction, Cato launched the Project on Social Security Choice, which is widely considered the leading impetus for transforming the soon-to-be-bankrupt system into a private savings program. Time Magazine calls Tanner, “one of the architects of the private accounts movement,” and Congressional Quarterly named him one of the nation’s five most influential experts on Social Security. The New York Times refers to him as “a lucid writer and skilled polemicist.” Before joining Cato in 1993, Tanner served as director of research of the Georgia Public Policy Foundation and as legislative director for the American Legislative Exchange Council.

Daniel Model is the Executive Chairman of the Model Holding Ltd., a leading European supplier of corrugated board and carton packaging with a staff of almost 3000 employees. He believes that web based social collaboration will become the enabler and catalyst of non-governmental co-operation and social innovation of the future.  Model has proven to translate his visions into reality when he publicly proclaimed a meta-state named Avalon in March 2006. Avalon is a virtual, organically growing and non-territorial state comprising a loose network of “citizens” who believe in his idea of a “state 2.0″ where human action shall have its seeds in a system of incentives and freedom rather than a system of patronization and constraint. A talented cyclist, a near-world-championship-finalist-curler and a high ranked amateur car racing champion, Model has a real passion for life and liberty.

ESFLC Student Debate Session

ESFL invites all interested students attending the ESFLC to apply for our general Student Debate session, which will take place on Saturday, March 9, 2013 during the conference. The debate will feature two student panelists on each side of a classical debate within libertarian philosophy: should the state exist? Two students will represent the case for minarchy (or limited government) and two students will represent the case for anarchy. The debate will be moderated and will follow a standard procedure in which both sides have the opportunity to make opening and closing statements, rebuttals, as well as answer questions from each other, the audience and the moderator within the course of approximately an hour. The debate will be hosted as a general session (not a break-out) open to the full conference audience. Find All details and apply here by February 8, 2013!