This does not preclude high wages (quite the opposite in fact), as Germany shows, and only requires that wage increases be in line with productivity increases.
The recent crunch on Germa nwages has come from the combination of an overvalued DM entering the euro (misplaced pride), and the zeitgeist of relentless focus on company profits, which has unfairly tipped the balance too far in sharing productivity gains. In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
What I object to in Merkel's statement is the inference that the "population"'s interests are being protected when in fact it's the "population" and other economies in the eurozone that are footing the bill for the mark euro. When locusts move on, they leave nothing behind
