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Leaders lead, but where from?

BY KASSANDRA | APRIL 30, 2013 - 3:53PM

Many commentators have deplored the absence of leadership and leaders over the past couple of years in the Eurozone crisis. True, there have been many summit meetings, over two dozen by now, but they seem to be called summit meetings only because they are being held on the top floor of the European Council building. They are not summit meetings because they bring together the pinnacle of European ingenuity, creativity and economic knowledge.

The 27 heads of State and government then make their separate ways back home, after having interpreted the already vaguely written conclusions of these meetings in 27 different ways. Or rather, at least 28 interpretations exist, as presidents Barroso and Van Rompuy also interpret the conclusions in their own way in a joint conference.

Whereas most bystanders have witnessed inertia, these two presidents have invariably seen ‘historic decisions’ being taken, that will once and for all show clearly the road to recovery; a road that apart from being long and winding also seems to be getting longer and loner as recovery is always around the corner (i.e. in about ten to twelve months as they said in 2010, 2011 2012, and now already twice in 2013). These months never seem to pass by; they are always ahead of us.

Not too long ago the Financial Times made it finally clear why our leaders are not bringing us any closer to solving the crisis. It wrote of European Commission President Barroso that he “lacks the credibility to lead Europe from the front.” And then it became to clear to me all of a sudden, why we seem to be confronted with a lack of leadership. The leadership is there, but it is only not coming from the front. Our leaders, lead from the back, lead from the wings or lead from any other place that is invisible to us mere mortals. All we see is the front; and the frontline is a difficult place to be.

Now, you may wonder how the ordinary troops can follow their leaders when these leaders lead from the back. And the simple answer to this is that they cannot, as they do not have eyes in the back of their heads. And that is why Europeans walk like lemmings towards the cliff, and tople over to meet their doom: massive unemployment, a total lack of confidence, and a vastly shrinking appetite for anything that has to with the EU.

Of course, the clever leaders we apparently do have are at the back of this queue making damn sure that they do not all fall off the cliff. This is probably one of the reasons why they lead from the back, so the foot soldiers can take all the blows ahead of them. But wouldn't it be fun if we were to change the pattern and collectively make a 180° turn. This would put our leaders again at the front.

I am sure that will scare the hell out of them. In that case they will be threatened with unemployment, hardship and a total absence of any positive outlook for the near future, or even the mid-term. That would teach them a lesson. The only problem is that it still does not solve our economic problems. There must be a way of getting clever, innovative and socially conscious leaders that could lead us from the front. It is clear that these people are not available yet, as the FT pointed out so eloquently. But there is a way of putting such people in charge.

It so happens that in 10 to 12 months - remember recovery is always around the corner in that timeframe - there will be elections for the European Parliament. What if Europeans decide to vote for people and parties that we actually trust and that present feasible plans to get us out of this mess. It would be wonderful, wouldn't it? And all we have to do is just not vote for the people that have gotten us into this mess. Most of our leaders are members of the EPP. Let's oust them. Some of them are Liberals: let's oust them too. Some of them are even Social Democrats, and let's, and I’m sure you’re getting the point by now, oust them as well. So let's just vote for men and women that will not promise us the earth and the moon, but just a decent socially acceptable way out of here, a way that will start securing jobs for our young again and that will encourage entrepreneurs to invest again. Who these people are? I'll tell you when the list of candidates for next years' election is made public. But for the time being, at least refrain from voting for any of the present ‘leaders’ that you can spot when you look over your shoulder.      europe on line