If Jean-Claude could say what he wants

‘I THINK IT’S TIME NOT JUST TO BOOST THE EU, BUT TO FACE THE BAD CHOICES MADE IN THE SOWING DEPARTMENT.’

Imagine this: The president of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, sits down this week to write an open letter.

My Fellow Europeans, might write)

It’s not the fashion, as in the United States, to quote from the Bible. But, now, it feels appropriate. The line that comes to mind is “Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” We in Europe have sown good seeds. No more war. The championing of liberal democracy. The maintenance (with strains) of social health and welfare systems. These are good crops.It’s my job to lead the Commission—the business end of the European Union. But I think it’s time not just to boost the EU, but to face the bad choices made in the (he sowing department.

It’s obvious that the creation of the Euro was a bad idea. Joseph Stiglitz, the U.S. economist who got a Nobel, insists in his new book that either the currency must be broken up, or a “northern” zone of states that benefit from the euro be separated from a larger, “southern” circle which don’t.

Of course, I and others pooh pooh-ed the idea. But since this is truth-telling time, I have to admit - given the leaks from closed-door EU committees showing I fought to kill any robust measures on tax avoidance - he has a point.

The euro was more a means to closer political integration than a mere common currency. But we have to ask ourselves: do we really want it? Britain is leaving us, and that removes a constant critic of both the Euro and closer union. So we can leap ahead! But who’s proposing it? There’s a way, but where’s the will?

I’ve been too imprecise about immigration. I gave a talk last August in which I said that we should show solidarity to refugees, and added that borders were “the worst inventions ever made by politicians.” Sounds like something said after too good a lunch. I’m for solidarity, but we can’t go on adding more and more thousands to those already here – not with fears of terrorism, not with mass unemployment, not with Europeans, including first generation immigrants now citizens, rebelling.

We have to look the issue in the face, and determine what is politically possible. Solidarity isn’t just taking in endless numbers. It can also be making the countries from which they come safe, habitable, developing.

Some seeds we haven’t sown have been in the defense department. Most of our members assign less, sometimes much less, than the two percent of GDP they promised. And – truth will out again - my dear Luxembourg spends less than half a percent, and it’s the secondrichest country in the world.

The soft power we are so proud of is possible only under the hard power umbrella of the U.S., which pays for most of NATO. We’re now faced with an aggressive Russia, and though a number of my fellow leaders take something of the Donald Trump line that Vladimir Putin isn’t so bad, we should be clear that he’s trying to disunite us.

In March the Netherlands will hold a general election. In April, the first of the two rounds for the French presidential election is expected to show Marine LePen of the Front National as the winner, but polls show that she will be beaten by a centrist candidate in the May run-off. Could she do a Trump? In the autumn, we’ll see if Angela Merkel can survive as leader after the German elections.

If 2017 isn’t to be a disaster for the Unloved of Brussels, we have to make clear what we will and won’t do about the currency, how we can staunch the immigration flood and assist the wretched while keeping the trust of our citizens, how help the states to tackle the terrible dearth of jobs, especially for the young - and ditch all the dreams. At 60, it’s about time to stop dreaming, no? Yours in Europe Jean-Claude The stakes are certainly high as regional parties eye the general elections of 2019. With the Trinamool Congress out on the streets, protesting the arrest of its senior MPs and the Samajwadi Party hit by a Mahabharata between the brothers, uncles and nephews, the regional players are fighting for the larger share of political power in Delhi. Mamata Banerjee seems to have rekindled her fighting spirit and is out on the streets, something, which has managed to catapult her to the Chief Minister’s post in the crucial state of Bengal. Street protest has always been her forte and strength—something that the Centre cannot take lightly. She is bound to fight; the arrests have merely pushed her to the centre stage of the anti-BJP protests. The arrests couldn’t have come at a better time for her, when she is fighting what she calls the biggest anti-people drive launched by the Central government. The fact that demonetisation has caused hardships to the countryside and the poor adds substance to her claims and ensures her relevance as far as this debate is concerned. As long as it is a people’s war, there will no problem as far as popular support is concerned. After serving one and a half term as Chief Minister, Didi seems to be eyeing a greater role: she wants more power and wouldn’t settle for anything else. She sees her self as a potential alternative, a secular one to the BJP. No wonder she constantly claims to fight communal forces. This view resonates with her most crucial votebank, i.e. Muslims, who form a substantial electorate in Bengal. With the Congress not showing signs of any improvement, Didi is poised for a bigger role on the national stage.

In Delhi, the anti-corruption movement launched by Anna Hazare and Arvind Kejriwal has paid huge dividends, for Anna emerged as a genuine anti-corruption crusader and Kejriwal as aam aadmi ki awaaz. Despite its controversies and failings, the Aam Aadmi Party has managed to remain relevant across many states and is a strong contender in two states that go to the polls in February. Politicians could take a cue from the statements of the Aam Aadmi Party. By taking the Central government head on, they have remained relevant in the political dis- course, at times acquiring the political centre- stage. Didi is only following suit.

Akhilesh Yadav, on the other hand, is set for a bigger game. If 2017 is not his year, 2019 will certainly be, especially as brand Akhilesh is unchallenged and largely unscathed. His popularity can be seen across caste and class lines, and among all age groups. He is acceptable to prospective alliance partners and his moves so