Berlin daily TAZ launched an attack on Merkel’s european policies on Tuesday using the example of Greece to demonstrate the lack of solidarity and cooperation among the EU member states.
“While Merkel evokes European unity when it is expedient, thanks to Schaeuble the austerity policy imposed on Greece continues unabated” the article argues. .
Chancellor Merkel calls for a closer union in Europe to distinguish herself from the new ‘America first’ doctrine.
But which Europe does the chancellor mean? TAZ asks, concluding that she seems to understand European union only politically, but not socially and economically.
This is shown by the example of Greece, the article continues. The recent Eurogroup decision not to discuss debt relief mean that Greece will be further impoverished because it is forced to implement draconian austerity measures.
Last week, the Eurogroup agreed that Greece should have a primary surplus of 3.5 percent until 2022. But even Germany currently reaches only a primary balance of about 2 percent, although the economy is booming and it enjoys almost full employment.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has been complaining for years that the Greek debt burden is not sustainable – and calls for relief.
But Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble refuses to make any concessions . He does not want to negotiate any debt relief until the current rescue package for Greece expires in 2018.
Bank of Greece chief Yannis Stournaras in a contribution to Kathimerini, explains why Schäuble’s schedule does not work: “The financial markets already want to know whether the debt will be viable or not. Otherwise, Greece would not be able to borrow from the money markets in 2018 – and the country would need another bailout”
And nobody, neither the partner countries nor Greece, want another rescue package.
The TAZ article is another sign that there is a shift in the attitude of some of the German press towards Greece, starting to take a more sympathetic attitude, recognising that in recent years, the Greeks have reduced their unit labour costs by 25 percent making the country competitive. But the investments are still going down because of insecurity over the Greek debt.
By contrast, on the same day, the large circulation tabloid Bild featured the headlines “We will pay for Greece forever” and “Greeks want to reject new billions”, an article that caused the euro to buckle in early trading the same day, and something that Athens has strenuously denied.
