GERMAN ROLE:Whatever she decided to do, Angela Merkel knew it would not please everyone, writes DEREK SCALLYin Berlin
CHANCELLOR ANGELA Merkel’s deal on Greece has ruffled feathers and divided opinion in Germany like no EU decision in memory.
Critics have portrayed the deal as further proof that a new, self-interested Germany is emerging on the European stage, while another camp viewed the final deal as an overdue return to classic European power politics.
Merkel faced an unenviable dilemma ahead of the summit. Agreeing to support Greece early on would have stoked opinion in the popular German press that, even with its own empty coffers, Berlin is prepared to pick up the tab for basket-case euro zone neighbours at the risk of undermining the euro. Allowing Greece to fail, on the other hand, could have seen Merkel blamed for a possible domino effect across the euro zone and a financial mess on a scale far beyond the cost of helping out Athens.
The German leader knew that, whatever she did, she couldn’t please everyone.
And so it proved: a series of German newspapers attacked the IMF-led deal on Greece as a “disgrace” and a “betrayal” of Germany’s solidarity with the EU.
One commentator suggested that Merkel had her deal but had “smashed a lot of European porcelain in the process”.
The other camp was more sanguine, saying the deal was a pragmatic bit of EU business that said little about Germany’s place in the union.
Even Merkel’s defenders are under no illusions that Berlin, like never before, has to take into account a rising German scepticism to big European endeavours, particularly ones where it has to pick up the lion’s share of the tab. Factor in a crucial state election in May, and it’s no surprise that Angela Merkel was neither in the mood nor in a position to pull out the Helmut Kohl diplomatic chequebook. But would Kohl have done that on this occasion?
“I don’t think Helmut Kohl would have reacted any differently than Merkel,” said Dominik Hierlemann, EU analyst of the Bertelsmann Foundation.
“She employed a few scare tactics ahead of the summit, then agreed a pragmatic deal – no one member state opposed. There isn’t a single deal in EU history that hasn’t been reached this way.” The Greek crisis may have revived talk of a new, assertive Germany but – as Merkel’s defenders point out – that idea is as old as the new Berlin republic itself.
And, even Merkel’s critics would have difficulty portraying the German leader as a rabid nationalist or macho egotist.
Before leaving for Brussels, Merkel reminded the Bundestag why Germany feels a unique sense of ownership of the single currency. “The German people gave up the deutschmark trusting there would be a stable euro, a trust that cannot be undermined,” she said. Defending her strategy on Greece, she implied that a quick, no-questions-asked EU loan to Greece would have set a nightmarish precedent for Germany and the single currency.
“A good European is not necessarily the one who helps quickly,” she said, “but the one who pays attention to European treaties and national law and hinders damage to the euro zone.”