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# taz.de -- Germany, Greece and the EU: Europe isn’t that German
> What kind of a Europe do we want? Surely one that values solidarity. The
> German course of austerity therapy has failed. It is time to correct the
> mistakes.
Bild: The majority wants a Europe of solidarity, one that bands together for th…
BERLIN taz | „Politics begins with the contemplation of reality.“ Since the
Greek 'no’ there have been so many lies flying around the German political
landscape that one wants remind the top-ranking German politicians and
leading spin doctors of that famous quote by Social Democrat Kurt
Schumacher. Ah yes, reality. It is currently being negated by many, and
unscrupulously reinterpreted by others. So much so that the prejudice
within the German discourse could gain the upper hand. That, however, must
not be allowed.
The result of the Greek referendum is not, as the Bild-Zeitung imagines it,
a simple rejection of the euro. With his policies, Prime Minister Alexis
Tsipras has not „burnt the last bridges“ towards compromise as SPD leader
Sigmar Gabriel maintains, nor has Tsipras’ government lit a wildfire in
Europe, as CSU General Secretary Andreas Scheuer claimed, before he went on
to rail against „leftist wrong-way drivers“, „blackmailers“ and „dece…
of the people“.
Reality? You must be joking. This is what propaganda looks like –
instrumentalising reality to one’s own ends. That kind of incitement has
nothing to do with rationality, let alone respect for other cultures or
democratic conventions.
The question on the ballot papers was precisely formulated; it referred to
the most recent austerity measures offered by the EU institutions – and
nothing more. At the same time, surveys showed that a large majority of
Greeks want to stay in the eurozone. In real terms: around 60 percent of
all Greeks, in particular many young people, are calling for a stop to the
brutal austerity measures. Some 40 percent of all citizens would even be
prepared to accept further hardships, despite rampant poverty.
The debt-ridden country is therefore not as torn as it would appear. The
Greek 'no’ is in fact a committed ‚yes’. The majority want a Europe of
solidarity, one that joins forces for the weak and leaves nobody behind. A
Europe that does not cowtow to the euro, the stock exchange and the market,
but one that champions the primacy of politics, fellowship and integration.
To ask the careful question: don’t we all want that? Moreover, isn’t such a
vision of a bountiful alliance worth a couple of billion euros?
## In essence apolitical
Those who interpret this complex, conflicted situation as a vote for
leaving the euro are acting irresponsibly – and in essence apolitically.
One has grown accustomed to the CSU top dogs’ dulled reactions to anything
happening beyond the Bavarian border, as if they had poured five Weißbier
down their gullets at breakfast time.
However, it is apalling to see the SPD chairman stoop to courting prejudice
in order to clutch at percentage points. In the matter of the Greek
question, the German Social Democrats have denied their very essence which,
despite Agenda 2010, should have something to do with social warmth and
international solidarity. Whether Sigmar Gabriel’s right-leaning approach
can still win points with fearful voters remains to be seen.
That the damage done to the party image will remain is clear. However,
given the drama of the process, one could almost begin to no longer care
about the SPD again. What kind of strange understanding of democracy is
this anyway – to label a referendum on harsh austerity measures a trick, or
an attempt to blackmail the EU? Chancellor Angela Merkel, Gabriel and the
CSU leaders are otherwise constantly lauding the idea that the people must
be allowed to speak their voice strongly. It is precisely in such European
questions that more participation is drastically needed.
## Rituals laid bare
Many harbour the prejudice that Brussels is a bureaucracy-obsessed Moloch,
wholly detached from everyday life. When the government of an EU state
allows its citizens to vote though, the same parties act as if it were a
coup against the European idea. To actually implement direct democracy –
what are these cheeky devils thinking?!
The charming thing about the at times aimlessly wandering Syriza government
is that it lays well-practiced rituals bare. With the referendum, Tsipras
broke with prevailing EU logic. The troika had always negotiated on
restrictions with only a few of those involved in the governments – at the
exclusion of the parliament, not in sought-after backroom deals, and with
criteria that almost nobody understood.
The pressure that they exerted, the lack of reality in some of their
austerity plans and the leverage enacted on parliamentary rights only came
to broad public knowledge with the Greek crisis. One must be grateful to
Tsipras’ left-wing government for this act of transparency.
Behind the plumes of the smoke grenades being thrown by all those involved,
what is being missed is that two policy approaches are colliding. The EU
institutions, the German government and the other EU member states are
adhering to the dictum that in order for an economy to grow, its markets
need only be set up liberally enough. Tsipras and Co. are pushing for a
Keynesian investment policy, and debt relief.
## Misguided austerity dictum
Many hard facts now suggest that Germany’s approach to Greece is not
working. In recent years, Greece has cut its budgets by more than 30
percent. Its economy has shrunk by almost a third, unemployment has shot up
to 27 percent. With a deep recession and excessive debt occuring side by
side, the German chancellor must have long since realised that her
austerity dictum is misguided.
The consideration of reality, however, has certainly not begun within the
SPD – its chairman preferring to grumble that German workers’ incomes would
be jeopardised by a permanently subsidised Greece. That's true, but it is
too simple. Gabriel neglects to mention that an exit from the euro – the
notorious Grexit – would be even more expensive. Germany would have to
immediately write off sums in the high-double-digit billions, and Europe
would create a poorhouse on its doorstep.
The worst, though, would be the disintegration that that would signal.
Europe would no longer be a strong economy, upholding fundamental common
values, but rather a power team geared for a competition in which
underachievers are mercilessly left behind. Granted, it is understandable
that Europe's political elites are vexed by the behavior of the newcomers
from Athens. Tsipras and his finance minister have used every opportunity
to discredit themselves.
It is simply not very helpful when the negotiating parties make accusations
of criminality and terrorism. Similarly, it is incomprehensible why a
leftist government would resist cuts to their inflated military budget for
so long. The nationalistic connotations in the pathos which Tsipras confers
upon his own work are also pretty hard to bear.
But anger, resentment and frustration are simply not political categories.
They lead nowhere. Good politics are characterised by the fact that they do
not yield to emotional temptations. The German federal government would be
well advised to seek out the rational core and reevaluate, again and again.
Particularly as the Germans are very powerful players in this poker game,
and the Greeks very weak ones. Those in positions of power who kick those
below them always come across as vile. Gabriel and Scheuer ought not to
forget that.
By contrast, the rationality of Tsipras‘ actions has been downright
impressive. By replacing his finance minister he removed the most
provocative player from the game. The other EU ministers would no longer
have even sat at the same table as Yanis Varoufakis, with his successor
they will have to. With simple matters of staff, Tsipras demonstrates his
bargaining skills, placing the EU institutions in a tight position – and
the European Union?
## Europe isn't that German
In the face of this situation the other EU countries, Germany in
particular, cannot permit themselves to persist with their face-saving
posturing. Taking democracy seriously means offering Greece new
negotiations. The German chancellor is reputedly able to learn quickly.
That was always her greatest strength when it came to nuclear power, the
minimum wage or family policy.
So far Angela Merkel has attempted to solve the European crisis in a very
German manner. She has set everything on the peculiar and, for the vast
majority of peoples, entirely incomprehensible ideology that tough
austerity is a national economic panacea. She favours infinitesimally small
steps and dogged negotiating, as in the case between employers and
industrial union IG Metall. She is also confident that the weakest will
emerge from such struggles in the lead. Europe isn't that German.
As ironic as it sounds, with their ‚no‘ to austerity the Greeks have given
Merkel the chance to correct her mistakes. Helmut Kohl, who still stood for
the true idea of Europe, would have most likely signed off on Greek debt
relief years ago.
Translation: Hans Kellett
7 Jul 2015
## AUTOREN
Ulrich Schulte
## TAGS
taz-Texte zur Euro-Krise auf Englisch
taz international
taz-Texte zur Euro-Krise auf Englisch
taz-Texte zur Euro-Krise auf Englisch
taz-Texte zur Euro-Krise auf Englisch
taz-Texte zur Euro-Krise auf Englisch
Schwerpunkt Angela Merkel
## ARTIKEL ZUM THEMA
Democracy and the Greek crisis: Breaking Europe’s Stunned Silence
No longer does anybody in Brussels dare to resist orders from Berlin. Do we
want a Europe run by decree? It’s time for debate.
Schäuble’s role in Brussels: Merkel’s bogeyman
Chancellor Angela Merkel’s manner over the Greek conflict has been mostly
obliging, while her finance minister Wolfgang Schäuble played the role of
bad guy.
After the Euro Summit in Brussels: Thus fails Europe
Thanks to a loathsome alliance, Merkel and Schäuble have been able to
impose all of Germany’s demands on Greece. The result is a regime of
sanctions and coercion.
Economist about the ECB and Greece: Like setting off a nuclear bomb
The ECB denying Greece emergency loans would be blackmail, writes the
economist Martin Hellwig. A crisis like 1931 could be created.
Frist für Griechenland: Schlussstrich am Sonntag?
Noch bis Sonntag bekommt Griechenland Zeit, die Voraussetzungen für neue
Finanzhilfen zu schaffen. Sonst drohe ein „Grexit“, so die EU-Kommission.
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