Germany told to act to save Europe

[MohandasKGanja]

I was wondering how the European board members here are feeling about/reacting to all the craziness lately about the bailouts and saving the Eurozone. It sounds kind of scary....

Germany told to act to save Europe - FT.com

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Germany told to act to save Europe

By Quentin Peel in Berlin, Jan Cienski in Warsaw and Norma Cohen in London


Polish foreign minister Radek Sikorski: 'I will probably be the first Polish foreign minister in history to say so, but here it is: I fear German power less than I am beginning to fear German inactivity'

Germany is the only country in Europe that can act to save the eurozone and the wider European Union from “a crisis of apocalyptic proportions”, the Polish foreign minister warned on Monday in a passionate call for more drastic action to prevent the collapse of the European monetary union.
The extraordinary appeal by Radoslaw Sikorski, delivered in the shadow of the Brandenburg Gate in the German capital, came as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development called on European leaders to provide “credible and large enough firepower” to halt the sell-off in the eurozone sovereign debt market, or risk a severe recession.

The OECD’s comments came as the organisation slashed its half-yearly forecasts for growth in the world’s richest countries, warning that economic activity in Europe would grind to a near-halt.
Yet their calls were met by a stubborn insistence in Berlin that only EU treaty change to forge a “stability union” in the eurozone would revive confidence in the markets.
Wolfgang Schäuble, German finance minister, rejected calls for the European Central Bank to act as a “lender of last resort” in the eurozone, and for the introduction of jointly guaranteed eurozone bonds to relieve the pressure on the most debt-strapped members of the common currency such as Greece and Italy.
Germany was not big enough to support the rest of the eurozone on its own, Mr Schäuble told foreign correspondents in Berlin. The way to win back the confidence of the markets was to complete monetary union with a “stability union” based on strict budget discipline enshrined in the treaties of the EU.
In a startling comment for a senior Polish minister, Mr Sikorski declared that the biggest threat to his nation’s security was not terrorism, or German tanks, or even Russian missiles, but “the collapse of the eurozone”.
“I demand of Germany that, for your own sake and for ours, you help it survive and prosper,” he said. “You know full well that nobody else can do it. I will probably be the first Polish foreign minister in history to say so, but here it is: I fear German power less than I am beginning to fear German inactivity. You have become Europe’s indispensable nation.”
Yet he backed Germany’s drive for deeper integration in the EU and the eurozone. The member states faced a stark choice between “deeper integration or collapse”, he warned, challenging the UK government to support reform, or “risk a partial dismantling” of the union. “We would prefer you in, but if you cannot join, please allow us to forge ahead,” he said.
His call for the EU member states to decide whether they wanted to become “a proper federation” is in line with the German government’s insistence that only much closer political integration is essential to underpin the existing rules of the eurozone.
Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, called last week for a “big step towards fiscal union”. But Mr Schäuble said on Monday that his government wanted a quick and limited treaty change to enshrine budget discipline in the EU’s Lisbon treaty.
He rejected any suggestion that this was a way of forcing all the EU members to become more Germanic. “The Mediterranean countries will not become German,” he said. “And Europe will not be speaking German.”

[Grimmlok]

The Euro is toast. Just accept it.

[A*O]

So Germany will achieve European domination by financial leverage rather than military.

[Grimmlok]

It's been how many decades? I seriously doubt Germany is going to start rolling over anybody these days. Nobody is buying their bonds either.

[MohandasKGanja]

1871 - Otto von Bismark designs the German Empire
1941 - (70 years later), while re-designing the German empire) Hitler declares war on the U.S.
2011 - (another 70 years later), Angele Merkle re-designs the German empire by refusing to bail out various failed European states, unles they agree to a re-configured Eurozone on German terms.

I'm telling you, they have a 140-year plan!!!!

[witchcurlgirl]

Well, it was going to be a thousand year Reich. They came up a little short.

[Jezi]

I saw that Merkel bitch on TV holding a speech that basically boiled down to 'Ein volk, ein reich, ein fuhrer'. There's a new Hitler in town and she has tits.

I hate her with a passion.




Disclaimer: I don't think she's planning a new holocaust or anything, just a lot of the things she says, we've heard before in the 40's.

[A*O]

Agree. People have very short memories. Hitler rose to power on the back of a very fragile German economy and people wanting some stability and hope for a "brighter" future. The other Nazi shit clouded the issue and lead to the regime's ultimate downfall but the underlying issues are exactly the same.

[stef]

of couse hitler has to be brought up when there's a discussion about german politics... *yawn* angela merkel is so far from hitler, i don't even know how you guys come to that conclusion.

as grimm said, the euro and the euro-zone are toast and will eventually fail. i don't know how many billions germany's supposed to pay for others anymore. we're deeply in debt ourselves.

[yanna]

It's all one big clusterfuck. I don't think there is a way to truly achieve a common currency without a federal governmet.

And wow, Godwin's in 3 posts, must be a record...

[Deutsche]

I have hated the Euro since politicans came up with this stupid idea, I wish Germany would get back the Deutsche Mark and leave the idiotic EU zone.

[Jezi]

I have hated the Euro since politicans came up with this stupid idea, I wish Germany would get back the Deutsche Mark and leave the idiotic EU zone.

I remember back in around 2001 there was a poll where they asked if the people would've voted yes or no on the Euro if they were asked. The vast majority of people voted no, but of course we were never officially asked. Everything is so much more expensive now, even when taking normal inflation into account. I want our old currency back, too.

[baked_tater]

[Grimmlok]

K, as an ethnic German whose initials spell SS, whose last name sounds like a popular fried food from Austria that NOBODY seems to be able to spell, I would like to make the following plea:

Just ONCE, i'd like the words "German" and "Germany" NOT TO CONJURE MENTIONS OF FUCKING HITLER. Jesus Christ on a crutch, pretty much everybody ALIVE during that era is DEAD already.

[MohandasKGanja]

Shawn Schnitzel?

Germany is in a tough spot, and they spent untold billions just reunifying with East Germany. I'm sure that was painful, and they can't singlehandedly save the Eurozone.