Published in: Active Policies in Eurozone www.FXstreet.com

Mastering European DemonsWed, Feb 19 2014, 09:29 GMT 

by Nikos Akkizidis | Independent Analyst

Society is indifferent to the feelings of politicians faced with making difficult decisions. It will neither support their egos, nor will it justify them when they land in a difficult situation. If a politician is unwilling to deal with the reality of society’s behavior and his own limitations, fears and failures, then he will not be able to succeed. Consequently, politics is not for everyone.Politicians should have a set of fundamental principles which, if followed, consistently can lead to success. The funny thing is that most of these principles are neither new nor complex. It is in spite of this that politicians encounter difficulties when trying to apply the aforementioned principles. This is often attributed to the fact that for many constituents complex ideas are more attractive than simple ones. Many find it hard to comprehend that good results often come about when utilizing a handful of clear rules. This can be explained by the fact that people are more inclined to believe that success is derived from some secret source of knowledge. This belief drives many politicians to provide elaborate solutions. As previously mentioned this is due to the insecurity of people and the consequent need to find some reason to feel special. Having secret knowledge makes society feel superior; possessing simple truths does not. Therefore, the human ego drives people to support extreme political ideas and hence support politicians through whom they want to prove to themselves that they are superior to others. Their egos don’t want them to limit themselves to simple truths. The ego wants secret knowledge.This probably is the major reason why new political parties in Europe are drawn to discretionary policies. Discretionary policy feeds the ego. It is the policy that relies on one-dimensional judgment, however is highly questionable in its implementation. Such political parties in the crisis have increased their popularity in Europe. The increasing popularity of these parties led to arrogance and extreme behavior of some politicians and part of nations in many countries of Europe. 

www.FXstreet.com Mastering European Demons

Akkizidis Nikolaos

1

 However, if a politician or a nation, wants to be great, it must conquer this ego and develop humility. Humility allows people to accept the unknown future dispassionately. Humility will keep society from trying to make extreme projections. Humility will keep people from not taking it personally when a situation goes against them. Humility will let us, as Europeans embrace politics based on simple concepts.The most important lessons in life are simple yet difficult to execute. In politics, consistency perhaps is the most important element of the success . A systematic approach to the European crisis, a thorough understanding of the limitations of this approach, and the tools used to understand the behavior of societies, can help politicians to implement a more successful and stable policy. Having this knowledge, politicians must be prepared to take tough but fair decisions. They must be then able to execute the plan or the plan has no meaning.In a couple of months, 500 million European citizens will vote for the new European parliament. It's probably the first time that European elections will have as big an impact on the social and economic integration of Europe. European politicians in the coming years will be called upon to make important decisions about the future of the European Union.If I had to choose a single [x] factor, primarily responsible for European political success, this factor should be located in the loyalty to strategies based on commonly accepted truths. With this belief it will be much easier for European politicians to follow with consistency, perseverance and humility European policy on economic and social integration. Rather, complex ideas will lead to extremism that in turn would create uncertainty, thereby introducing a new era of turbulence in the European Union.  

www.FXstreet.com Mastering European Demons

Akkizidis Nikolaos

2