The measures announced at the beginning of September by the President of the European Central Bank (ECB), Mario Draghi, announce a certain return to the orthodox measures taken so far to manage the EU crisis. This announcement acknowledges the state of shock of the European economy and, incidentally, notes the failure of the orthodox policy of austerity that has so far been in force in the European Union (EU) after six years of severe crisis. In fact, in order to control the deficit and public debt, the cuts have led to a meltdown in the economy and further deterioration of public accounts. When the effects of austerity have reached the EU area, in Germany, as a recession, there is a tendency to make strict economic policy more flexible to deal with the spectre of deflation. The masterlines of the renewed stage are drawn by the words of Draghi. These words stir up the perseverance of recovery and are the background to a new political consensus that underlines the dogma of austerity in the EU.

In August, in response to the world’s leading financial players, Draghi acknowledged that the budgetary policy adopted by the euro area from 2010 to the present has proved to be less effective than that of other developed countries. It also recognised that the ECB and monetary policies cannot be the solution to all problems. In this context, Draghi added that fiscal consolidation policy should be softened to promote growth and establish more active and coordinated budgetary policies that prevent the stagnation of the European economy. Next, the ECB has taken concrete measures, with interest rates down to almost zero and an announcement of liquidity expansion through the purchase of private debt. Its impact has been immediate, the euro exchange rate has been reduced, the interest in peripheral public debt has been sunk and the euro has been reduced, for example. To support these measures, the new EU President, Juncker, has shown himself willing to allocate EUR 300,000 million over the next three years as public investment, which would end the contraction of the budget so far.

These new signs for the modest change in EU economic policy are the result of the failures of two policy strategies. To begin with, there is a failure of austerity policies after four years – I have already mentioned this – that it has failed to meet the intended objectives and that it has led to a deterioration in the living conditions of the population and a tremendous disaster for society. Secondly, the failure of the Social Democratic alternative, which would be a different solution to the crisis, according to Fernández Díaz. Zapatero showed this early and the recent crisis of the French Government and its response demonstrate the impotence of classical socialism. Weakened by the inertia of the German factual authorities, the foundations of the new consensus of the European elites are already in the main lines and structural reforms of the current austerity policy, but also in expansive monetary policies to stimulate short-term growth, to make the objectives of fiscal consolidation more flexible, additional aid for private investment and public investment plans at European level. The new EU consensus with a more flexible economic strategy at the political level would be the alliance between the Conservatives and the Social Democrats in operation in Germany.