I have been the European Union's ambassador and head of the E.U. Delegation to the United States for not quite two months -- not long enough to be completely settled in, but long enough to hear the refrains about European failure on several occasions.
Against the backdrop of some E.U. member states' fiscal difficulties, commentators have been quick to lump together a series of ailments -- rising nationalism, deficits, high unemployment, a declining euro -- and declare that the European Union is dying, if not already dead.
There is no glossing over the financial crisis and the severe impact it has had on many European countries, as well as the United States. But to suggest that we are on the brink of collapse is profoundly inaccurate and seriously underestimates the resilience of the 50-year-old European project. In fact, a good-news story is emerging that deserves much more attention than the doomsday headlines of the past six months.
This summer, European leaders agreed on measures to preserve financial stability in Europe, which included a rescue package for Greece, comprehensive financial stabilization mechanisms and the launching of revamped economic governance mechanisms. Critics said we acted too slowly. That is debatable, but the fact remains that our actions had the intended effects.
Greece has undertaken significant reforms to put its finances back on a sustainable path; in return, it has received loans from its European partners and the International Monetary Fund. Other E.U. countries have introduced measures designed to lower their own deficits. The European bank stress tests successfully performed in July have also helped to restore confidence in the financial sector. And last month, we reached an agreement to establish a new framework for financial supervision to help prevent future crises. And the euro proved its worth. Without it, we would most certainly have seen damaging instability in individual countries' currencies.
Led by a resurgent German economy, newly released data show that economic confidence in the euro countries rose to its highest level in more than 2 1/2 years in September.
Tackling the financial crisis gave ample evidence that the European Union can adapt when needed. As we work toward a sustainable recovery, there will be a need for further coordination that only a robust European Union can provide at the European level -- not only on mending the effects of the recent crisis but also in launching an ambitious revamping of economic governance.
The key for us -- just as it is for the United States -- is to generate jobs and foster sustainable economic growth. In both the United States and the E.U. countries, unemployment is far too high, hovering around 10 percent. At the E.U.-U.S. summit in November, this will probably be one of the main topics. The U.S. subprime mortgage crisis showed how fast economic problems can spread across the Atlantic. It is now up to us to show that the reverse is also the case -- that we can help each other's efforts to aid growth and create jobs.
On the foreign policy front, in July, while the European Union was supposedly "dying," we adopted unprecedented restrictive measures against Iran. These measures target key sectors of the Iranian regime over its nuclear efforts and are similar to U.S. sanctions in going beyond what the United Nations was willing to do. The swift action came as a surprise to many critics who suggest that the European Union is all talk and no action on the world stage.
Last December, the European Union began to operate under the Lisbon Treaty, and one of its key elements is to give us a single, more coherent voice in foreign affairs. And that is exactly what is happening.
These latest economic and foreign policy developments demonstrate, for those who had any doubt, that rumors of the European Union's death are greatly exaggerated. The union is alive and well, taking strong, decisive action that is having an impact on Europe and the world.
João Vale de Almeida, ambassador and head of the European Union Delegation to the United States.