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German politics: The Election on September 23rd now dominates all political planning so European policy is also operated through that filter.
Banking Union stands on three legs: the Single Supervisory mechanism (SSM); Single Resolution Mechanism (SRM) and Single Deposit Guarantee Scheme (DGS). Taking them separately:
Economic Governance: Does Germany have a clear vision of how it would like the EU to develop over the next say decade? The simple answer seems to be No! However, Finance Minister Schaeuble (a long-standing visionary) has raised again the idea of Treaty change – after a period in which that concept suddenly went out of fashion for fear of giving the UK an opportunity to `extract’ concessions. There seem to be two aspects to his concept: (i) a smaller Treaty change to enable completion of banking union and (ii) a reversion to a longer term concept of a `European Finance Minster’ that he floated last summer.
The latter may be necessary for any move to a fiscal union in order to ensure proper democratic control. Berlin is the right place to contemplate the consequences of the absence of that condition. Amidst the gleaming new buildings, there are still many bullet-riddled, shrapnel-scarred buildings to act as a powerful reminder of 1945, as well as places that are relics of the old East German `Democratic’ Republic.
Relations with the UK: My visit was immediately after the weekend spent by David Cameron (and his family) with Chancellor Merkel in Berlin. The silence about the visit was quite deafening so one can only imagine that Cameron’s begging bowl of `powers to be repatriated' remained empty.
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