Troubled EU hopes the only way is up

Beset by critics and buffeted by economic woes, European Union chiefs might have been forgiven for thinking that at least Pope Francis would apply some balm for the New Year in his address to the EU parliament.

Not so. Even the pontiff spoke of a continent that was "elderly and haggard" facing a world which "regards it with aloofness, mistrust and even, at times, suspicion".

Little wonder that many in Europe hope that 2015 is the year the fortunes of the 28-nation bloc bottom out and things finally look up again.

Certainly, the EU has the zest and energy brought by a new team, headed by the no-nonsense Donald Tusk, once an activist in the Solidarity movement before becoming democratic Poland's longest-serving prime minister. He is expected to add visibility to the EU presidency as he takes over from the colourless Herman Van Rompuy.

The new president of the EU's executive, Jean-Claude Junker, replaces the long-serving Jose Manuel Barroso. Junker, a former Luxembourg prime minister, says his "last chance Commission" needs to streamline bureaucracy to connect with its half billion citizens.

But the best-laid schemes were already starting to unravel with the approach of the new year.

Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras recently promised that Greece would not "gamble" with its recovery from financial crisis. Now, the country at the heart of the EU's economic woes has done exactly that. Parliament has failed failed to approve a new president, forcing the government to call early elections for January 25 - a poll that could re-ignite Europe's sovereign debt crisis.

An election that may bring to power leftists opposed to Greece's harsh bailout conditions could dampen the enthusiasm generated by a December EU summit that created a strategic investment fund to kick-start the EU's sluggish economies and generate job growth.

Instead of plotting a bright future, the EU could soon be plodding through one crisis after another again.

Yet in a sense, it has always been this way.

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Troubled EU hopes the only way is up

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