David Cameron's actions have sent a tremor through the euro zone, writes DEREK SCALLYin Berlin
WHEN DAVID Cameron made his inaugural visit to Berlin in May 2010, he announced to the press that he would never support any European treaty that “drew us further into supporting the euro area”.
Chancellor Angela Merkel looked on with a smile, suggesting she couldn’t wait to lure the young leader out of the corner into which he had just painted himself.
Neither were smiling after he made good on his promise last Friday. As the shockwaves of Mr Cameron’s Brussels bombshell reverberated around Berlin over the weekend, reaction ranged from resignation and frustration to disappointment and worry.
The Welt am Sonntagbroadsheet went so far as to run a front-page headline in English: "Britain please come back".
Reflecting a widely held view, Martin Schulz, the European Parliament’s Socialist leader and incoming president, said: “I have my doubts about whether Britain can remain in the EU long-term.”
A leading European MP in Dr Merkel’s own Christian Democrats (CDU), Günther Krichbaum noted: “The treaty of Lisbon explicitly opens the possibility of a country’s withdrawal. The British must now decide whether they are for or against Europe.”
As the initial shock began to wear off, there was growing acknowledgement that Berlin didn’t emerge from the all-night summit bathed in glory either.
After brushing aside talk of any compromise last week, the final deal appeared to be one trade-off after another for Germany: automatic sanctions for future debt-rule breaches, as Berlin demanded, will be “quasi-automatic”. In addition, the European Stability Mechanism permanent bailout fund, far from being frozen at €500 billion, will be re-examined in the near future.
Beyond the deal itself, the summit has tested to the limit Berlin’s relationship with the key Brussels players. European Council president Hermann van Rompuy is “very disappointed, politically and personally” in Dr Merkel, according to one confidante, while European Commission president José Manuel Barroso described the mood as “a near-war situation”.
Mr van Rompuy, Mr Barroso and Eurogroup chief Jean-Claude Juncker have already agreed to revisit next March the project of a common eurobond, fully aware this ratchets up the political pressure on the German leader.
Berlin’s hopes for a convincing summit deal to stabilise the euro will be put to the test when markets open this morning.
"The question is no longer if we would rather solve the debt crisis with the entire EU or the euro group," conceded one senior government member to Der Spiegel. "The question is whether we can save Europe. And the euro."
Despite public claims to the contrary, concerns remain in Berlin about the legality of the intergovernmental structure to be agreed next March. Summit insiders reported sharp exchanges on this score between the German delegation in Brussels and the head of the European Council’s legal service. German officials acknowledge, too, that the intergovernmental deal could revive tensions between the so-called “Merkozy” duo.
The expectation in Berlin is that France, having seen its EU influence fade during the euro zone crisis, will now work to redouble its efforts to influence developments in any new intergovernmental structure.
“They hope that they will have greater weight in a union without Britain,” said one senior German official. With temperatures rising in Berlin, German president Christian Wulff stepped into the discussion yesterday. He dismissed suggestions that Britain’s days in the EU were numbered and said the country “remains a great asset”.
“We should understand what Europe means and never speculate about shrinking Europe,” he said.
“Our way in the world leads through this Europe. Even big problems can be solved together.”