A country without leadership. But, above all, "a serious country from which we can expect a backlash". This is how Franco Tatò, now president of Parmalat, sees "his" Germany to which he once dedicated the "German Diary", a chronicle of his experience at the helm of a former GDR company to be converted to a market economy. Today the German Constitutional Court will rule on the constitutional legitimacy of the ECB's interventions on the securities of countries at risk.
How will it be pronounced?
“The risk of a rejection is very high. The majority of public opinion, as well as the president Christian Wulff, tend to judge these interventions as an improper aid to a country like Italy which, among other things, has not taken advantage of them”.
Is an anti-Italian sentiment emerging?
“Let's say that the Germans no longer understand us. A certain astonishment emerges from reading the newspapers: but what better situation than this will Italy ever have for carrying out structural reforms? And instead we get lost behind measures without respite. Or we insert reforms such as the one on freedom of dismissal that I don't think can pass the scrutiny of the Constitutional Court. And so a suspicion grows.
What?
“That Italy is making a big show without actually wanting to introduce any reform. And Merkel, who accepted that the operation be launched, is in serious trouble. For public opinion this too is an indication of the Chancellor's lack of leadership”.
In short, German unease identifies Merkel as the scapegoat. Why?
“Germanai's problem begins with the disastrous approach to the Greek question. Merkel first made a grim face, then conceded little and late, thus without solving the problem. Then she was forced to move in the direction of saving which is not so much Athens as German investments. In short, a great mess that, from a political point of view, people perceive as weakness and political uncertainty. Thus Merkel dissipated her political credit ”.
But why such a fluctuating attitude?
"Part of it is lack of leadership, a problem common to other German formations starting from the liberals".
Will there be a changing of the guard in the future?
“It's not easy to say. Strictly speaking, common sense would recommend looking at the experience of the coalition at the beginning of the millennium, when the reforms that allowed the recovery were launched on the initiative of the social democrats. But a move of this kind requires strong credibility and a strong capacity for political initiative".
Is the absence of leadership the most pressing problem?
“In the recent past there have been two great interviews of two characters who don't love each other at all: Helmut Kohl and Helmut Schmidt. Both attributed much of the current situation of uncertainty to Merkel's shy and wavering attitude. The picture is not cheerful: the SPD has suffered major defeats, the Greens are advancing even in a state like Baden Wuttemberg, which is the second largest industrial region in the country. Thus Merkel's strategy of recovering consensus with the stop to nuclear power in the long term collapses ".
Does the Linke phenomenon remain, growing rapidly in the East?
“La Linke is no better than the doctrinaire left of our house. A coalition government that has to make room for the Linke and the Greens can be very dangerous. For Europe, not just for Germany”.
In essence, could it be the German malaise that is putting the European Union in crisis?
“I would put it another way. Germany needs to regain its leadership and resume its march, which may or may not be European. In recent years, the reforms have allowed growth rates of around 3 percent in a global economy that was absorbing German exports. Today this car stopped. And to get it going again, you need to find a direction of travel. But to do this we need an authoritative leadership capable of pointing the way".
It is not a comforting picture.
"However, the fact remains that Germany is a serious country: I do not exclude that, once the diagnosis has been made, the system will get back in motion".
