Whither the 'Good Europeans'? EU Ire with Germany Spills into the Open
Growing annoyance with Germany inside the European Union has hardly been the best kept secret in recent weeks. For the most part, though, any barbs fired at Berlin have been of the diplomatically tactful variety. Even French President Nicolas Sarkozy's recession-related comment "France is working on it and Germany is thinking about it" hardly rises to the level of an outright affront.
Now, though, frustration has begun spilling into the open. Following the appearance on Wednesday of a Newsweek interview with German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrück -- in which he picks apart Britain's recent sales tax (VAT) reduction -- Downing Street has hit back. Germany, a source close to the prime minister's office told the BBC, "was in a minority position and out of step with most other countries on how to deal with the looming recession."
German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrück has not been making friends in Europe lately.
Foto: REUTERSAccording to the BBC, a number of officials at the Treasury are likewise unimpressed with Steinbrück's offensive. Prime Minister Gordon Brown told LBC radio on Thursday, "I don't really want to get involved in what is clearly internal German politics."
The German finance minister was nothing if not direct. Referring to the UK tax cut plan, he said "are you really going to buy a DVD player because it now costs £39.10 instead of £39.90? All this will do is raise Britain's debt to a level that will take a whole generation to work off."
In the interview, Steinbrück also repeated a stab at the European Union that he had already used once this week. "For a while the position in Brussels and a few other places has been, 'We're now very much for setting up large-scale spending programs, but we're not really going to ask what the exact effects of those might be. And since the amounts are so high, well, let's get the Germans to pay because they can.'"
Is Germany Isolated in the EU?
On Monday, Die Zeit reported Steinbrück saying "every EU-level proposal that comes from the EU presidency (eds. note: currently held by the French under President Nicolas Sarkozy) or from France would mean that Germany would have to pay more money." Steinbrück has consistently pointed to the fact that Berlin has pushed through a €32 billion ($42.3 billion) economic stimulus package -- one that many in Germany have criticized for being mostly made up of measures that had already been agreed too.
The rift caused by Steinbrück's criticism is the clearest indication yet that Germany has become isolated within the European Union. Disgruntlement with Berlin has been growing for weeks, ahead of the EU summit beginning on Thursday in Brussels. In addition to concern about Germany's handling of the economic downturn, many are also scratching their heads about Chancellor Angela Merkel's sudden turn away from the environment.
Merkel was instrumental in getting the European Union to put together a package of ambitious climate goals aimed at drastically cutting CO2 emissions from the 27-member bloc. Ahead of formal adoption, though, Merkel has bowed to pressure from German industry and is fighting to weaken those same provisions. She has even threatened to block key elements of the package.
Indeed, recent weeks have seen the once-hailed "Green Chancellor" collect a whole new set of nicknames: in France and Brussels she is known as "Madame Non," in the British press she has become "Frau Nein," and at home in Germany she is called "Angela Mutlos" or "Faint-Hearted Angela."
Germany Shifts Emphasis to National Interests
Some, though, point out that the current fracas centered on Berlin is merely symptomatic of a more gradual development. Katinka Barysch, deputy director for the Center for European Reform, says that Germany has begun focusing more on its national interests than it has in the past.
"In Berlin they are saying, 'If France can so blatantly do whatever works for France and Italy can do what's best for Italy and Britain is a reluctant European in any case, then why are we expected to be the good Europeans all the time?'" Barysch told SPIEGEL ONLINE.
Of particular annoyance in Paris, London and Brussels has been Berlin's refusal to go along with an EU economic stimulus plan. European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso has said the €200 billion package is necessary to dampen the recession now battering much of the EU. Merkel, though, has declined to participate -- a major reason for her exclusion from a Monday meeting in London between Barroso, Brown and Sarkozy.
Still, Barysch said, the blame for the current butting of heads can't be pinned entirely on Germany. On the one hand, it is only natural that, having created a broad consensus on the EU's environmental targets, disagreement arises when it comes to ironing out the details and the burden sharing.
On the other, France has likewise played a major role in poisoning the relationship with Germany. "It used to be that whatever happened in the European Union, Germany and France discussed it first before going public with a proposal," Barysch said. "Now, they open up the newspaper in Berlin to learn that Sarkozy has sprung a new idea on them. They are constantly being put on the spot having to respond to proposals from Sarkozy. And they really don't like that."