The basic reason for creating a European Union was to stop the continent from being afraid of Germany, so it is alarming to see a fear of Germany reappearing in many capitals of Europe.
There has been an increasing anxiety about “what will the Germans say” in many capitals of member states and also in the Brussels corridors of power. Said or unsaid, this is the question that is being echoed around Rondpoint Schuman, the epicentre of the EU.
This apprehension is shared in private talks by EU officials, right up to the level of ministers in governments of EU member states. Up to the highest level, private disagreement with the policies they are ultimately called to endorse is whispered.
Ask why these reservations – or outright objections – are not raised in formal meetings, the answer, in private, in confidence and off the record is invariably the same, “we are afraid of Germany.”
A highly placed Brussels insider says, “every time I discuss Europe's problems with French or Belgians, after around 10 minutes they lower their voice and say that they (the Germans) destroyed Europe three times already and they have no qualms about doing it again”.
A few years ago, this remark would be seen as outrageous and politically incorrect. But, lately, a growing number of people don't even lower their voices, unless there is a German present.
As the latest showdown with Greece shows, Germany is no longer seriously attempting to assuage these fears. Indeed, sometimes it looks like the German government is not adverse to exploit them, to build on them. Its behaviour points to something different than obstinate ideological blindness vis a vis a financial orthodoxy that almost everyone outside Germany recognises as disastrous.
It seems to have made a choice that finesse, never the strongest point of German diplomacy, is not productive.
Obedience is paramount. And it must be prosecuted to the end. “Pour encourager les autres”.
http://www.neurope.eu/article/fear