The suspicion of Germany is back. This is very painful for me as a German but I am afraid that Merkel’s and Schäuble’s politics have been nothing short of a disaster for Germany too (in addition to Greece and Europe). For years, the population has been fed a wrong narrative of what the real problems are and the ruthlessness with which a purely national view was enforced has nothing to do with European partnership anymore. Especially Schäuble has become a real liability. He should pack up and leave office immediately. Paul Krugman has a point when he asks “Who will ever trust Germany’s good intentions after this?” The German hard-line has also opened up a division with France (and Italy). It looks like the “deal” rather than Grexit was only possible because Francois Hollande finally stood up an confronted Merkel. The Franco-German engine has always been at the heart of European integration and at the heart of the Euro in particular. If there are fundamental divisions such as whether you can shrink the Eurozone or have to keep it together the situation does not bode well at all for the future. A “lack of trust” has often been cited as one of the problems with the Greek government. I am afraid we now have lack of trust all around! The political machine at the heart of EMU, that usually produces consensus and compromise, appears seriously damaged as the Eurozone has fragmented into different groups pursuing national politics. You cannot keep together a currency union like this in the long-run…
Social Europe
"What Are The Consequences Of The Greek Deal?"Henning Meyer | Editor-in-Chief of Social Europe, a Research Associate of the Public Policy Group at the London School of Economics and Political Science, and Director of the consultancy New Global Strategy Ltd.