May 15 (Bloomberg) -- On the eve of the American Civil War,
Abraham Lincoln famously said that “a house divided cannot
stand.” Today, the European Union -- committed for decades to
the quest for “ever closer union” -- must confront an
agonizing truth. Lincoln’s maxim must be inverted. For the EU to
survive, the euro must divide.
Between the Treaty of Rome in 1957 and the Single European
Act in 1986, Europe’s governments brought about the one great
peaceful revolution the continent has seen in its long and
troubled history. The creation of a single European currency
would build on this remarkable success. It was the next vital
step to greater unity and prosperity. The economic crisis in
southern Europe shows that the euro system, at least in its
current form, has instead become a mortal threat to both.
