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  1. remember my quip about this being an English language article about France, Europe and Germany. There are biases and agendas;

  2. remember that the EU has been built, largely, on the fundamental disagreements between France and Germany. The locomotive worked because the two countries, which really think differently, forced themselves to reach compromises. As far as I can tell, this is still the case;

  3. after years of narrative about Germany as 'the sick man of Europe,' we're suddenly back to the more traditional 'France is worried about Germany's economic strength' which was the basic European diet throughout the 70s, 80s, and early 90s (and triggered traumatic devaluations of the Franc). My reaction is: yawn.

Germany never stopped defending its core interests(or what it sees as such), witness the Ost-Politik and the creation of the ECB.

Wind power
by Jerome a Paris (etg@eurotrib.com) on Tue Apr 13th, 2010 at 06:41:40 AM EST
Jerome a Paris: remember my quip about this being an English language article about France, Europe and Germany. There are biases and agendas;

no doubt.  but then what is the bias of Jacques-Pierre Gougeon, a French professor writing in Le Monde?

he agrees, by the way, and describes how the situation of tension between Germany and France "is not new".  But:

... dans le cas présent, la polémique lancée par la France au sujet de la politique économique allemande cache une inquiétude plus générale face à la question du leadership en Europe, question jamais tranchée entre les deux pays, alors même qu'une nouvelle génération de dirigeants politiques allemands, Angela Merkel après Gerhard Schröder, n'entretient plus la même relation émotionnelle au voisin français. Chacun de ces deux chanceliers a d'ailleurs connu des moments de crispation forts avec la France : au sommet européen de Nice en décembre 2000 pour l'un, à l'occasion du débat autour de l'Union pour la Méditerranée en 2007-2008 pour l'autre. Chaque fois, il s'est agi de la place de la nouvelle Allemagne en Europe et du maintien (ou non) d'un équilibre entre les deux "grands Européens".

Au-delà de la nécessité d'élaborer des positions communes sur les sujets européens précédemment évoqués, il y a donc urgence à évoquer entre les deux pays cette question du leadership, soit en construisant un mode de régulation commune par le biais de consultations plus efficaces, soit en procédant à une répartition des tâches en fonction des enjeux et des dossiers. Le contexte est plus favorable qu'il n'y paraît, tant l'Allemagne pour des raisons à la fois historiques et géopolitiques répugne à être isolée, situation où risque de la plonger progressivement son attitude face à la crise grecque.

Non-dit franco-allemand, par Jacques-Pierre Gougeon - LeMonde.fr



The point is not to be right, but to get to right.
by marco on Tue Apr 13th, 2010 at 07:23:16 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Germany never stopped defending its core interests(or what it sees as such), witness the Ost-Politik and the creation of the ECB.

So the enlargement to 27 and the creation of the Euro were Germany's interest and have worked in Germany's interest, and now they refuse to give something back.

The brainless should not be in banking -- Willem Buiter

by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Tue Apr 13th, 2010 at 08:55:20 AM EST
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It may not be so much the problem of not giving something back, as the apparent blindness to where Germany's interests really lie.

A broken euro and single market are not in Germany's interest. If the single currency were to collapse, the mark would suffer a pretty massive revaluation relative to other European currencies, not to speak of the return of borders and tariffs. That may be an extreme scenario. But the German attitude seems to be "wherever it's heading, it's not our problem".

But it is.

by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Tue Apr 13th, 2010 at 10:21:37 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Well, Germany could always just let Greece default. How bad could that hurt them?  :-)

"It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."
by ARGeezer (ARGeezer a in a circle eurotrib daught com) on Tue Apr 13th, 2010 at 03:28:50 PM EST
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