The European Council on Foreign Relations

Germany in Europe: Rebuilding European democracy

Date: 19th August 2011  |  Author: Ulrike Guérot,

Categories: Germany in Europe,

George Soros wrote in Handelsblatt this week that the fate of Europe depends on Germany. That sentence resonates heavily if you are a German. Yet the political willingness of Germany to boost the economic integration of Europe through the introduction of Eurobonds also depends on the good fiscal behaviour of other EU countries. Only this might create the political room in Germany to move towards Eurobonds (which obviously are not a panacea). Germany cannot jump into Eurobonds before getting guarantees that the others won’t fool around with their finances – to do so would be economically dangerous (a ‘poison pill’ according to chief economist of Deutsche Bank, Thomas Mayer, in an interview with German news radio DLF) and politically infeasible, as the FDP, the smaller coalition partner, vociferously argues (including Minister for economics Philipp Rösler).

Tragedy comes when both

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