100 posts
Eurozone’s Problem Isn’t Greece or Italy: It’s Germany
Article by Geroge Friedman, published on Firstpost.com, 6 February 2012 The German government proposed last fortnight that a European commissioner be appointed to supplant the Greek government. While phrasing the German proposal this way might seem e...
German official ‘simply doesn’t understand’ rest of world
Gideon Rachman of the FT has great run-down of his recent conversations with German officials and diplomats. There is considerable impatience with the Davos-led, Lagarde-Cameron-Geithner line that Germany has to throw more money at the problem, by bu...
Merkel is correct about Eurozone reforms – But which reforms?
The policies of Merkel do not align with her rhetoric. Image Source: Flickr In her speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said among others the following (from euronews): Do we want coherence without ambit...
"Kanzleramtology" by Hans Kundnani
The euro crisis has made Germany so important that anyone interested in the future of Europe – or even in economies outside the eurozone like the UK – now has to spend a lot of time trying to...
Kanzleramtology
The euro crisis has made Germany so important that anyone interested in the future of Europe – or even of economies outside the eurozone like the UK – now has to spend a lot of time trying toRead more…...
What do Germans really think about the euro? More than you might imagine
Thomas Fricke at the Financial Times Deutschland gives a pointer to a useful paper by Daniel Gros and Felix Roth that asks Do Germans support the euro? One of the most repeated lines in the last two...
Britain and German EU leadership
I rarely feel the need to attack a post on another blog but what I read this morning on Ideas on Europe, a blog hosted by UACES (the academic association for contemporary European studies) was just a...
A Presidency in crisis?
The institution of the German federal presidency is once again under scrutiny. Only twenty months since the last German president, Horst Köhler, resigned due to comments about Germany’s military involvement overseas, Christian Wulff has be...
"Germans and Aliens" by Paul Krugman
The Times had an article about Germany’s faith in austerity as the answer to depression. It’s sad reading for anyone hoping that Europe will get its act together; it’s especially galling that Germans...
My Predictions for 2012
1. Germany's Federal President will resign after less than two years in office. Christian Wulff will be the second head of state in a row who resigns because he does not like what the press writes about him. Germans will get new president. Again with...
"Germany in Europe: Christmas Presents from Merkozy" by Ulrike Guerot
I am with those who argue that this summit might have killed the EU without necessarily saving the euro. In this respect, indeed, the Summit was historical. The main problem was not solved, but the...
A German Pact for Europe
Yet another euro crisis summit is over, and yet another deal has been struck. This time, the deal has taken the shape of an intergovernmental agreement. If I am not mistaken, and I may very well have lost count by now, that makes nine summits and fiv...
Is Germany doing enough to save the euro?
Debate at King’s College London, on 12 December 2011, on the subject of “Germany has not taken enough proactive steps to solve the eurozone crisis, despite being at the top table of European politics and its economic standing.” Richar...
Sarkozy to profit most from Cameron blunder
Sarkozy is about to realize De Gaulle’s dream rebooted : an intergovernmental Europe, without Britain. The cherry on the cake is the US backing to this new Europe much to the detriment of the UK-US special relationship. Though the media has lo...
Melancholia
Yesterday, as I was listening to Guido Goldman's talk on Germany and the Euro Crisis at the Center for European Studies, I was struck by the similarities between the way debt crisis is playing out this week and Lars von Trier's brilliant film, Melanc...
How Germany is paying for the Eurozone crisis anyway
The European Central Bank has always been a special case in the world of central banks.While policy is decided centrally, actual enforcement and implementation of that policy...
The latest Franco-German Agreement: Is it enough?
So France and Germany reached what was hailed as yet another “comprehensive agreement” on the reform of the Eurozone fiscal policies. In my opinion this wasn’t that comprehensive an agreement. It was only the last of such several st...
German Brinkmanship And The Inevitability Of Eurobonds
A story on the BBC website caught my eye this morning. It seems to suggest that the prospect of a German debt devaluation is appealing to some in the German government. Close followers of the eurozone debt debacle will remember the ‘leak’...
Euroblogs in German
Yesterday I looked at the euro crisis and euroblogs on Bloggingportal.eu, the multilingual aggregator. As I said: Increasingly Europeans realise that they are in the same boat, although some design the improved vessels for the future, some recall scr...
Helmut Schmidt: Deutschland in und mit Europa
The week of good/interesting EU speeches continues – and they all seem to be happening in Berlin. First, the Polish foreign minister Sikorski, now Helmut Schmidt , former German chancellor, now elder statesman. For the first time in 13 year...
Helmut Schmidt: the grandfather addresses the SPD
7000 attendees, more than 500 delegates, dozens of well known German and European politicians, and one notable elderly man in a wheelchair – Helmut Schmidt. Today is the start of the SPD Partietag in Berlin (live news in German here), the Germa...
Does it all depend on Germany? That is what desperate people think
More and more are those who ask from Germany to act big in order to save the euro from collapsing. Among these voices are top ranked politicians from various countries. The belief that Germany is the Messiah that will save the eurozone is grounded...
The curious case of German leadership
By Katinka BaryschSome of Germany’s European partners accuse Chancellor Angela Merkel of refusing, or failing, to lead properly in the euro crisis. Many Germans agree with that analysis and call for Merkel to guide the rescue efforts with a firmer...
A little criticism among friends
Well, well, well. That was quite a speech. On Monday evening, Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski went to Berlin, the eurozone’s lion’s den as it were, and told it like he sees it. Before an audience at the Deutsche Gesellschaft für A...
Germany – Stuttgart Station gets popular ‘Go!’
The construction of Stuttgart 21, the billion-Euros station project in the capital of Baden-Württemberg, can finally go ahead. Yesterday a 58,8 percent majority of the 7,6 million voters gave their green light. For Winfried Kretschmar, the Green pre...
EU Commissioner Oettinger questions existence of human life in Western France
Here we go again, another gaffe by EU Commissioner Oettinger. You remember Günther Oettinger? He is the EU Commissioner for Energy and former PM of Baden-Württemberg. If that does not ring a bell maybe you might recall his encounter with ‘tea...
Berlinpiraternas program del 1-3
Piratenpartei Berlin fick 9% i delstatsvalet i Berlin, på ett bredare partiprogram än vad det svenska Piratpartiet har idag. Jag skrev om det förra veckan, och passade då på att säga att det vore intressant att ha en sammanfattning av Berlinpir...
Merkel denies eurozone remedies twice
In concrete terms the French president Nicolas Sarkozy and the German chancellor Angela Merkel accepted the invitations from the Italian prime minister Mario Monti to visit Rome in a near future.At the mini-summit in Strasbourg (Elysée video) presi...
"Why Ms Merkel will blink" by George Irvin
A year ago, German growth was buoyant and the Eurozone (EZ) seemed firmly on the path to economic recovery from the 2008 recession. One economist at the ING group in Brussels announced triumphantly...
Daily digest: Well, Germany, once again it all comes down to you
As we wrote in the daily digest yesterday, the commission introduced their proposal for eurobonds, despite heavy opposition from Germany and chancellor Angela Merkel. It’s not only the German government, with Angela Merkel in front, who oppose...
Unfortunately for the Eurozone’s Core, Moral Hazard is Nothing Compared to a Breakup
One argument against bold solutions to the Eurozone debt crisis, such as issuing common Eurobonds or extending bond purchases of indebted sovereigns by the European Central Bank (ECB) has been the issue of moral hazard associated with such solutions.
CDU's steps towards EU political union
When the leading German coalition party, the Christian Democratic Union CDU, proposes some steps towards political union, national leaders and European media are guaranteed to comment in various ways. After the next steps in the euro crisis, how doe...
Willkommen, bienvenue, welcome …
Chris Riddell on the Berlin eurozone summitChris Riddell...
Merkel and Thorning-Schmidt on EU and euro
The German chancellor Angela Merkel met the leaders of Denmark and the United Kingdom, the two EU member states with opt-outs from introducing the euro currency. First a look at the press conference with the new prime minister of Denmark. Helle Thorn...
Germany: CDU's next steps in euro crisis
We have looked at some of the differences between Germany and Britain in European politics: the CDU party conference, European values, British Europe as an alternative and Ireland as a risk to much more than treaty reform. How does the CDU understan...
Cameron and Merkel spar
"Why are the British still in the EU anyway?" reads the headline in today's Bild, Germany's biggest selling tabloid, proving that it's not just the UK tabloids that enjoy "getting stuck in" when it comes to a good-old fashioned political dust-up. (An...
British or European Europe?
What makes the leading government party of the biggest eurozone and EU member state tick? Despite too little, too late, Germany participates fully in all the policy areas of the European Union. For Germany, the symbols of the EU express a feeling of...
If David Cameron has a British vision for Europe, let him tell us what it is | Timothy Garton Ash
Angela Merkel's clear plan for closer union will not appeal to all, but there is no substance to the British government's alternativeShe says more Europe. He says less Europe. Let's call the whole thing off? At the beginning of this week, the Ge...
German CDU defends European values, benefits and euro currency
The Christian Democratic Union CDU party conference adopted a resolution equating a strong Europe with the good fortunes of Germany: Starkes Europa – Gute Zukunft für Deutschland (23 pages).What does the leading government party of the largest mem...
Angela and Dave fight it out over EU's future
It’s the fundamental question facing the EU today: should the union integrate, or disintegrate? In two duelling speeches yesterday the British prime minister and the German chancellor took polar opposite positions on the answer.David Cameron’s sp...
CDU for Europe and Germany
Despite too little and too late, why is Germany more influential than the UK in the European Union? Imagine the Conservative party conference in the United Kingdom under the motto: For Europe. For Britain. In Germany the the theme of the main governm...
Germany’s “mysterious murder series” and the “new far right terrorism.”
Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich, Germany's interior minister, is an Islamophobic boob himself, is now "discovering" some kind of "new terrorism" in his own country. The obvious murders of Turkish businessmen and threats from a Nazi group to ca...
Duitsland: “mysterieuze moorden” en de “nieuwe extreem-rechts terrorisme. “
Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich, minister van Binnenlandse Zaken van Duitsland, is een islamofoob boob zelf, is nu 'ontdekken' van een soort van 'nieuwe terrorisme "in zijn eigen land. De voor de hand liggende moorden op Turkse zakenlieden en bedreigin...
Guilt is both a reason, and an excuse, for German inaction | Nick Cohen
Every attempt to resolve a crisis that could push us into a second great depression is met by German prevaricationWhat more must Germans do to earn the trust of Europe? They have overcome the legacies of nazism and communism to build a model republic...
A German decision that sets back Europe
News reaches me of a rather strange decision by the German constitutional court regarding the elections to the European Parliament. The ruling is forcing a change in the way in which Germany elects its MEPs. The decision is strange not because it is...
So what exactly is the CDU’s policy on the eurozone?
Of all the political-party actors in the long-running yet constantly mutating eurozone crisis (as opposed to governments and institutions), Angela Merkel’s CDU is probably most important, given that it forms the bulk of Germany's three party coalit...
Germany in Europe: the politics of disintegration
Many of us still live in the paradigm that every crisis of Europe will ultimately trigger more integration. I happen to think that this might be wrong this time – or at least that we need aRead more…...
Euro crash or rescue?
We have gone from a crisis in the eurozone to a crisis of the euro area and currency. A stark warning from The Economist. According to the the Free exchange blog, the eurozone is in a death spiral. Only a guarantee for sovereign debt from the Europea...
€ view: Bundesbank - tactical gains but a strategic defeat
The past week looked like another brilliant victory for the German Bundesbank, defending its staunch principles of orthodox monetary policy against the challenges from the rest of the world.Read more…...
Gemeinsames Gutachten: Wirtschaftsweise wollen Euro-Schuldenfonds
"Es ist eine Schlappe für die Bundesregierung: Ihr eigener Sachverständigenrat misstraut den bisherigen Bemühungen zur Bekämpfung der Euro-Krise. Statt Anleihenkäufe und Hebellösung schlagen die Ökonomen einen neuen Schuldentilgungspakt vo...
