Why should the German taxpayer be prepared “to do whatever it takes” – the mantra of EU leaders – to save the eurozone and hold the EU together? Is it not already enough to be far and away the largest contributor to the EU budget? While it was once ready to pay the lion's share of the tab for European integration, it has now slid into the British and French camps, where the national interest is defined as paying as little as possible into the EU budget while siphoning out as much as you can get away with. Resolving the sovereign-debt crisis implies possible liabilities of an altogether different order.
Germans are failing to see the clear and present danger that the demise of the eurozone inevitably followed by enfeeblement of the EU would not only shred German prosperity, but would also shatter Germany's post-war identity. Germans often refer to the 1933-45 period as their country's ‘break with history'. Modern Germany was designed to belong to something bigger than itself: to an integrating Europe, to NATO and to the West. Making a reality of this blueprint brought comfort and security to Germany's neighbours, enabling them to contemplate reunification with equanimity.
Germany can weaken that framework by giving up on Europe-building or by throwing its weight around excessively in the EU that we have. While their leaders might know it, the German people need to be reminded that they have a stake in greater European unity and everything to lose in European disunity.
At this weekend's European Council, Angela Merkel, Germany's chancellor, faces tougher challenges than any of her predecessors have had to deal with. She will have to commit more German treasure to shoring up and securing the eurozone than her voters will want and, quite possibly, less than her partners and the European institutions think is necessary. But she will also have to begin campaigning for EU treaty changes that will go against the current instincts of her people and the wishes of many of her EU partners.
Opposition has to be turned around because Germany needs more Europe. And Europe needs more German commitment.
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