” Germany is a very serious country that acts on the basis of strategic choices which, once adopted, are maintained for a long time. The choice of the Euro has been made and there is certainly the will to keep it. And this not only for economic reasons, i.e. to support German exports, but also for geopolitical reasons, i.e. because the Germans do not want to remain alone in the heart of Europe with their small area of the mark.”
Angelo Bolaffi, an expert in German philosophy and literature, just finished his four-year assignment as head of the Italian Cultural Institute in Berlin a few days ago, and from that observatory he was able to closely follow the events of the world economic crisis, evaluating them from the point of view view of the Germans. But one of the main criticisms made of Merkel is that of having managed the crisis in a wavering manner thus contributing at times to making the markets even more uncertain, and thus increasing the difficulties in finding a solution to the problems of relatively small countries like Greece.
“I believe – says Bolaffi – that we need to distinguish the tactic adopted by Merkel, which by its nature is inclined to exasperate tactics by trying to circumvent and thus defuse the problems instead of tackling them head-on, with those are Germany's basic choices towards of Europe and the Euro. The latter are not under discussion for the moment, even if public opinion shows strong resentment towards undisciplined countries or such as Greece, which have even rigged the accounts. And yet with all her tactics (also harshly criticized by Kohl) Merkel is trying to find a path acceptable to both her electorate and the other European countries precisely to keep the common currency standing.
Even politically, the government coalition does not seem very solid, so much so that it loses all local elections. ” The main problem seems to me to consist in the extreme weakness of the liberals both electorally and as political personnel. Perhaps Merkel's real mistake was to give up the grand coalition to form a right-wing government with the liberals who, however, proved to be weaker than previously thought. But still the fact remains that in Germany, unlike many other European countries, there is no organized political force which is ideologically against Europe and against the single currency. This is certainly a merit of Merkel and her tactics.”
So the weak countries of Europe can rest assured that Germany, despite the stomachaches of the Bundesbank and the resignation of the hawk Stark from the ECB, will not abandon them to their fate. ” Be careful – replies Bolaffi – not to put the Germans with their backs to the wall. You can't blackmail them endlessly. Of course, the pressure from the industrial circles goes in the direction of helping Greece and above all Italy, but our Government must not take advantage of it brazenly, because this could cause strong resentment both in the political environment and in public opinion."
At this point, what tactic can Merkel come up with to stay hooked to Europe? ” It seems clear to me – Bolaffi replies – that we are moving towards a strengthening of a specific intergovernmental structure, to the detriment of the traditional community structures, in order to have a sort of directorate of the most virtuous countries which dictates the rules of being together even with undisciplined countries . And Italy is not in this assembly, both because its accounts are not in order, and above all because it has not developed a real European policy in recent years and has not been able to remain close to Germany as a counterweight to the role of France . From a political point of view, the tarnishing of Italy risks having serious consequences on the European balance."
And it could be added that today Berlusconi would have done well to stop in Berlin instead of limiting himself to Brussels and Strasbourg. But perhaps, if some of the wiretaps we are talking about are true, he was ashamed to be seen by Frau Merkel.
