Martin Kettle: Germany, Too Weak Yet Too Strong
Talleyrand once said that the problem with Russia is that it is always both too weak and too strong at the same time. After the upheavals in the eurozone over the Greek bailout and now the resignation of the country's president over military policy, is the same now true of Germany?
Germany's position as primus inter pares in both the eurozone and the European Union always underscores her economic and political strength. The bailout for the Greeks boiled down to whether the Germans, inevitably, were prepared to take on the lion's share of the loans. In the end, in last month's fractious Bundestag vote, they did so. But German taxpayers, who (the British often forget) have spent most of the last 20 years bearing the cost of the economic rescue of East Germany, are fed up of spending so much of their money on bailouts for others....
It is important to understand Germany's dilemmas, which are real, principled and rooted in the country's uniquely destructive history. But the reality is that these are not dilemmas that will easily be resolved. German taxpayers have given billions of Deutschmarks and euros to other Europeans over the last half-century, mainly while their economy was growing and prosperous.
Now that times have become much more difficult, and the eurozone's future is so uncertain, it is almost inevitable that Germany is caught between wanting to strengthen fiscal disciplines across the EU and wanting to leave the poorer nations to their own devices. Each is a destructive option. As Talleyrand's remark about Russia implies, a nation that is simultaneously too weak and strong is not just a problem for itself, but a problem for others too.
Read entire article at Guardian (UK)
Germany's position as primus inter pares in both the eurozone and the European Union always underscores her economic and political strength. The bailout for the Greeks boiled down to whether the Germans, inevitably, were prepared to take on the lion's share of the loans. In the end, in last month's fractious Bundestag vote, they did so. But German taxpayers, who (the British often forget) have spent most of the last 20 years bearing the cost of the economic rescue of East Germany, are fed up of spending so much of their money on bailouts for others....
It is important to understand Germany's dilemmas, which are real, principled and rooted in the country's uniquely destructive history. But the reality is that these are not dilemmas that will easily be resolved. German taxpayers have given billions of Deutschmarks and euros to other Europeans over the last half-century, mainly while their economy was growing and prosperous.
Now that times have become much more difficult, and the eurozone's future is so uncertain, it is almost inevitable that Germany is caught between wanting to strengthen fiscal disciplines across the EU and wanting to leave the poorer nations to their own devices. Each is a destructive option. As Talleyrand's remark about Russia implies, a nation that is simultaneously too weak and strong is not just a problem for itself, but a problem for others too.