Germans abhor the Nazi dream for Europe - ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Fuehrer. The European project has lost significance among Germany's policy elite as the central driver of foreign economic policy. No clear grand strategy has replaced this Einbindungspolitik, German foreign policy tenet of engagement. Given the heavily-fragmented nature of checks and balances in German politics, the political elite seems to be buffeted by a cycling of priorities from regional elections to Chancellory infighting. The end result has been a series of policy reversals and costly delay.
Westerwelle says: I can't imagine the Bundestag would give a majority to a policy of unlimited joint liability for Germany. As an MP I certainly couldn't agree to that. The government cannot agree to joint liability for Europe's debt or to liability for the unknown. That's also true for the proposal under discussion at the moment to give the ESM a banking license
Dumping euros on Greece is ridiculous. It's unfair to squander hard-earned German euros, and it's unfair for Greeks to be addicted to German handouts. Nobody wins in dumping, which increases sinecures, laziness, profligacy, diseconomy, political corruption, and bad attitude. The freakish government of Greece stole my computer! http://venitism.blogspot.com
ECB plans to start buying government bonds again, in order to reduce crippling borrowing costs of PIGS. German MPs now regret they approved the fiscal pact and ESM by a large two-thirds majority in late June. Giving ESM a banking license would allow it to tap ECB for funding.
Greek debt differs from that of other nations, because it's not due to spending, but robbing! Graecokleptocrats got huge kickbacks from overpriced purchases of public equipment and contracts and by churning the state insurance funds. If this is not robbing, what is it? When politicians of other nations were trying to do things for their citizens, Graecokleptocrats were trying to fatten their secret offshore accounts, protected by parliamentary immunity. Graecokleptocrats rob Peter not to give Paul, but to themselves! The freakish government of Greece stole my computer and my life!
MP Peter Gauweiler, who has filed a complaint against ESM with Karlsruhe, has broadened his complaint to include opposition to a banking license for ESM. Even Draghi admits such a license is against European law. But ECB's Governing Council could change its position with a simple majority vote.
Christoph Degenhart asserts Europe needs more democracy, not less. This means:
(1) The new European institution of a permanent euro rescue fund which is about to be created has to be subject to democratic control, and this also applies to the institutions of the Fiscal Compact. The euro rescue measures have to be democratically legitimated by the parliaments and also by the citizens. Therefore all concerned Member States should hold referendums on the ESM Treaty and on the Fiscal Compact.
(2) Decisions on the direction of the future development of the European Union should neither be taken in the hectic atmosphere of day-to-day politics as it happened so often in the past nor be presented as decisions lacking alternatives. Therefore a directly elected convent should be created with the mission to develop proposals for a more democratic EU. Furthermore, fundamental decisions on the direction should be governed by referendums in all countries concerned.
(3) The shaping and control powers of the European Parliament have to be strengthened.
ESM Treaty and Fiscal Compact were concluded as planned without a referendum. Therefore the constitutional complaint is the only possibility to avoid a further loss of democratic substance and of democratic procedures. The constitutional complaint is an instrument that is open to every citizen.
Markus Soeder says: In this situation you have to apply the old mountain climbing rule, that if someone is hanging on your rope and pulling you down into the abyss with him, you have to cut the rope.
We are at that stage now. If we don't cut the rope on which Greece is hanging in time, Germany could get into danger. I expect Greece to quit eurozone by the end of the year.
Bundesbank president Jens Weidmann used to be one of Merkel's closest advisers. Now, he is one of her staunchest critics over the euro rescue. He is strictly opposed to the European Central Bank's policy of buying up bonds from debt-stricken countries and is winning a growing number of allies for his cause. Draghi says the ECB's decision on pursuing bond-buying was agreed despite Weidmann's reservations.
Bundesbank is opposed to fresh ECB bond buying on the grounds that it amounts to monetary financing of governments, contravening European law. Alexander Dobrindt accuses Draghi of using ECB for Italian national interests. Weidmann has criticized decisions related to the ESM Ponzi scheme and other bailouts as inconsistent and highly risky. He has called on politicians in Berlin to change their course, and he has been advocating the Bundesbank's principles regarding stability. All of those things put him at odds with top officials at the European Central Bank (ECB).
Weidmann is strictly opposed to loose ECB measures. He believes they amount to an unacceptable means of financing states through effectively printing money. In fact, he has come to assume the mantle of the last staunch defender of monetary stability.
Germans now realize that a return to the deutschmark would be cheaper than to remain stuck in eurozone. Germans no longer believe that loans granted to the four PIGS will ever be repaid. They worry that Germany is simply on the hook for PIGS. Germans had to give up the deutschmark in order to get other European Union nations to agree to German reunification. http://venitism.blogspot.com
