Euro Area Crisis: EUC Report

Debate between Lord Giddens and Lord Davies of Oldham

Monday 21st May 2012 Lords Chamber

[Lord Davies of Oldham]

My Lords, this has been a fascinating debate. I am sure that when the noble Lord, Lord Harrison, began his work with the committee on this report he scarcely anticipated that we would have quite such a wide-ranging debate. It has ranged from practical solutions for how we might emerge from the difficulties to the cataclysmic perspective that the game is up and we may as well fold up our tents and go home.

There are two dimensions to this debate to which I have the greatest difficulty in responding. I have great difficulty in responding to my noble friend Lord Giddens, not because I do not respect his analysis but because I cannot cope with the situation. He says that we, as politicians, do not have the intellectual machinery or concepts to get ourselves out of these difficulties. That may be so but I assure my noble friend that that will not stop politicians trying.

[Lord Giddens]

I did not mention politicians once. I was talking about intellectuals, saying that we do not have the capability to resolve the issues that face us at the moment. Therefore, it is not surprising that politicians are struggling, too.