Berlin alienating other EU members, says think tank

ANALYSIS:A book of 10 essays explores German views on Europe. Many blame Merkel for disorientation

GERMAN GREEN Party leader Cem Özdemir has said Berlin is playing a “risky game” in the eurozone crisis that is alienating its European partners.

Mr Özdemir was speaking at the launch of What Does Germany Think about Europe?, a report by the European Council on Foreign Relations think tank into how Berlin sees its future in the EU.

“The report is very timely except the title presumes that Germany is thinking about Europe at the moment,” said Mr Özdemir, co-chairman of the opposition Green Party. “I’m not sure all European countries would agree with that. I for one have difficulty, if asked abroad, to explain this government’s motivation in foreign policy. We are playing a risky game.”

His tone reflects many critical contributions to the volume, co-edited by Jacqueline Hénard and Ulrike Guérot.

“We were motivated to compile this book because of what we see as a kind of communication emergency with this government,” said Dr Guérot, head of the council’s Berlin office. “This is an attempt to explain Germany to Europe. After many years at the heart of the European project, Germany seems to have lost interest in it.”

In 10 essays, with an afterword by German philosopher Jürgen Habermas, contributors debate whether Germany is underperforming in the European debate or just misunderstood.

The report divides the debate into five areas, from economics and politics to media and society, presenting pro and contra positions on Germany’s eurozone strategy. Defenders of Berlin argue that growing reservations about the European project, while more visible there than elsewhere, are not exclusively a German affair.

Klaus-Dieter Frankenberger, foreign editor of the Frankfurter Allgemeine daily, suggests in his contribution that recent tensions in Europe have less to do with a shift in Germany than other countries’ outdated expectations of Europe’s largest country.

“Germany is no longer afraid of flexing its economic muscle and proudly showcasing its policies . . . as a model for others to follow although it should become a loudmouth,” he writes. “Germany is no longer reluctant to insist on a quid pro quo either when it comes to internal European solidarity.”

On economics, Berlin professor Henrik Enderlein calls for an end to the eurozone blame game and urges the Merkel administration to do a better job of explaining the “added value” of the single currency to German citizens.

He argues the currency crisis is less the failure of establishing a German-style “stability culture” elsewhere in Europe and more the inevitable collapse of flawed financial architecture.

“Any answers to the crisis should therefore begin with a close examination of the building’s overall structure rather than the location of the smoke detectors,” he writes. “Europe clung to the fallacy that a common currency zone could work without integrating economic policy. Economic policymakers were happy to leverage the benefits of a common currency and ignore the obligations.”

Media analyst Cornelia Bolesch writes that the “peculiar distance” of the German media to Europe has contributed to increasingly negative German attitudes to the euro and European neighbours.

Populist headlines are still limited to the Bild tabloid, she said, “but the media has failed to make any move towards Europe either and, all the while, the population is becoming more disoriented”.

In his afterword, Habermas says German disillusionment with the European project was a product of “value-free” political discourse since the election of Merkel. “In the past, government policy seemed based on clear visions,” he writes, citing Willy Brandt’s Ostpolitik or Helmut Kohl’s European unification policy. “But, since 2005, things have become completely blurred. It is no longer possible to see whether there is an aim beyond winning the next election.” Criticism of Merkel ran through last night’s discussion in the French embassy.

“Angela Merkel’s pragmatism is portrayed here in a positive way, and she is presented as a plucky, pragmatic physicist,” said Jakob Augstein, publisher of the weekly Freitag. He warned her rule would leave lasting damage on Germany’s reputation.

“While Angela Merkel’s predecessors wanted something, she just wants to preserve her power. She has no heartfelt project except to stay in office and is ruining the careful work of generations of leaders before her.”