I've said it for some time, and I think current events are proving it out: The EU was never intended to be a real union but rather was cooked up to give the BRD a comparatively soft landing for political reunification and economic reorganization, and when it served its purpose, Germany would pull the plug.  If the EU were meant for the long haul, it would at the least have real sovereign authority making the Euro a real sovereign currency (I know there are a number here who insist the EU is sovereign and the Euro is a sovereign currency.  Ahem.  First, who possesses the militaries, the EU or the members?  Second, if the Supreme Court of California ruled that the Federal government's distributing tax money from California to Mississippi was illegal, the Federal government's and the markets' response would be, "That's adorable, now why don't you run along and play," not the kerfuffle caused by the recent German court decision.).

While it looks like Berlin is still some way off from pulling the plug, die Karlsruher Kardinaele have now waltzed in with their decision on ECB activity and appear determined to push the pace.  And what then?  What was inevitable from the start.  Let's face it, there was only so long this could run on before the French figured out they were one of the marks and not part of the con and get pissed off in ways only the French can.  And does it matter given that Germany seems to be on its usual course of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory?  Internal divisions are worsening, DB is a train wreck full of dumpster fires, and the government is determined to pursue a hard money policy (not just a neoliberal austerity policy, which is bad enough) that has historically proved disastrous, such as the rolling and endless recession in the US the entire last quarter of the nineteenth century.  What does a football team do if its goalie doesn't even know which side of the net to stand on?  It gets a new goalie.  Or it gives up.