"As we know, in 2011, the remedy chosen for Italy was Mario Monti: as he himself stated, the decision was made to destroy domestic demand in order to make Italian products more competitive, in the hope that Germany would buy more of them. Wages had to fall and unemployment had to rise. In other words, the only adjustment mechanism available to us-after having relinquished control over exchange rates and interest rates-was put into effect: wage devaluation. We copied Germany. Germany, of course, refused to increase its own demand to balance the burden of readjustment. For the Germans, the entire weight had to fall on the deficit countries. Surplus countries were not required to do anything, as they embodied a moral superiority that had simply manifested itself through the 'natural dynamism of the market.' The point that was deliberately sidestepped, however-in Germany, but unfortunately in Italy too-was that the European market was by no means a natural creation. It was an artificial construct tailored to German ordoliberal preferences."
(G. Guzzi, *Eurosuicidio*, Fazi, 2025)
Guzzi's work *Eurosuicidio* is an important text, not because it presents particularly original ideas; those who study these matters have long been familiar with the themes covered in the book.
However, the volume is significant:
firstly, because it brings together in a single work-and in accessible language-virtually every perspective regarding the issue of European integration; Furthermore, it does not approach the subject from a specifically "Left-wing" perspective-thereby avoiding the Pavlovian reactions typical of that camp (including my own)-nor from the "Right," with its nonsense about remigration, pseudo-sovereigntist "blood and soil" rhetoric, or "conspiracy theory" angles like the "Kalergi Plan" and similar absurdities that have helped discredit even genuinely well-founded analyses;
it is written by a young scholar who fully belongs to the so-called "Maastricht generation"; from this vantage point, he is able to speak to and connect with his peers and younger people alike, showing-as Wittgenstein might have put it-"the fly the way out of the fly-bottle." I dislike-indeed, I loathe-youth-centric posturing for its own sake (especially when it ignores class distinctions), yet the contribution of those forces naturally most inclined toward change is crucial; to enable this, one must take not just one, but ten steps back. If young people don't bring about the revolution, who will?
among the issues raised in the book-all of them important-one stands out as fundamental for anyone wishing to approach the subject: the transposition of Communist and Catholic "millenarianism"-with their visions of the "sun of the future" and the "new man"-onto the theological and teleological construction of the EU as an external "god," deemed necessary to restore meaning to political action. The difference is that, whereas there was once hope for building socialism or the Kingdom of God, here we find an external savior in the cult of ordoliberalism. And the most radical, fanatical adherents have been-and remain-the recent converts. This is a matter we have been reflecting on for decades-the notion of "inevitability" (a concept non-existent in all of human history)-yet here it is set down in black and white, in a direct and simple manner, by a scholar who has no tactical or strategic need to "soften" his language; Conversely, the conclusion-or the *pars construens*-still appears rather weak and generic. Yet this does not diminish the book's value; if anything, it should spur further reflection and deeper exploration of an aspect that is essential to avoid remaining stuck in the realm of purely theoretical musings. After all, no text can be agreed with 100% (indeed, the tendency to treat books as if they were the Bible is part of the problem).
Two final points come to mind: a few years ago, Franco Berardi "Bifo"-a key figure of the '77 movement-predicted the inevitable implosion of the EU, arguing that it would come from the Right. That prophecy is coming true, largely due to the blind inaction of the opposing side-a side unable to grasp (and this would not be the first time, Lenin's decision aside) when the moment has come to jump onto or off the train.
This book is recommended to everyone-including, and perhaps especially, those who will be horrified from the first page to the last. To paraphrase Sartre: "Europeans, open this book and step inside. After a few paces into the night, you will see strangers gathered around a fire; draw near and listen: they are discussing the fate in store for your trading agencies and the mercenaries who defend them. They may see you, yet they will go on talking among themselves without even lowering their voices. That indifference strikes at the heart: the fathers-creatures of the shadows, *your* creatures-were dead souls; you dispensed the light to them, and they turned only to you, yet you did not trouble yourselves to answer those zombies. The sons ignore you: a fire illuminates and warms them-a fire that is not yours. Standing at a respectful distance, you will feel furtive, creatures of the night, chilled to the bone: everyone has their turn; in that darkness from which a new dawn will emerge, *you* are the zombies."
Andrea Bellucci
https://www.ucadi.org/2026/09/06/autodafe/
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Source: A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
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