In tomorrow’s Financial Times, one of the major sycophants of ECB and Brussels policy has raised his “voice” in castigating the Germans for being the source of all the EU’s current problems. Martin Wolf’s op-ed piece, “Germany is the Eurozone’s Biggest Problem,” is a criticism of the German export engine. And it seems to be another source for what appears to be a concerted effort to challenge Berlin’s intransigence over the need for budget austerity before fiscal stimulus. Wolf’s opening salvo against the Germans: “The financial crisis has given it a dominant voice in eurozone affairs. This is a matter of might, not right. Creditor’s interests are important. But they are partial, not general interests.”
My response to this is that Mr. Wolf sets up a straw man with this argument. The Germans MIGHT have evolved because without them GUARANTEEING the promises of President Draghi’s “whatever it takes” campaign to maintain the existence of the EURO, the entire EU project would have collapsed under the weight of its highly questionable ability to honor the debt of what at the time was referred to as the PIIGS: Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece, Spain.