This article by Quentin Peel opposes the view that Germany is just being bloody-minded, forcing excessive austerity on its partners in exchange for its financial support. The reality is rather more complex, he says.
There is a more lively debate taking place in Germany about the way forward for the eurozone, and the future of the EU, than in any other Member State. It is less doctrinaire and more radical than the outside world seems to realise. For a start, there is a broad consensus across the German political establishment, from Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union on the right to the Social Democrats and Greens on the left, in favour of closer economic integration in the eurozone.
Loosely defined as fiscal union, it certainly goes well beyond the present ill-enforced budget discipline. It would involve much more closely coordinated national budget strategies.
Germany is ready to put all those things on the negotiating table – in exchange for closer integration. The problem is that its partners in the eurozone – including France, Italy and Spain, the three most important – want to see the colour of the German cash first, and negotiate the integration later.
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