Germany Gambles on the Old Dream of European Hegemony Behind the Euro Crisis by Richard Greeman / November 16th, 2011
German industrial and financial power is the key to understanding the complex and often confusing international manoeuvres around the Crisis of the Euro. Germany is Europe’s industrial powerhouse, the only country that has survived the Great Recession with a healthy economy, low unemployment, social stability, and a favorable balance of trade. The stability of the European currency is essential to a continuation of this favorable economic situation, even if this means extending more credit to failing economies like Greece, Italy, and others down the line, as Chancellor Merkel told her own fiscally conservative party in no uncertain terms on November 15. Only within the solid framework of a strong European Union can Germany, Europe’s principle creditor nation, every hope to collect on her European loans and investments.
For Germany (and her American ally) the Euro-zone is ‘too big to fail.’ And since the European Union lacks a mechanism like the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank, only Germany is in a position to underwrite the necessary major bailout. This is a financial gamble of historic proportions, and it comes at a political price: German hegemony in Europe.
Full article: http://dissidentvoice.org/2011/11/germany-gambles-on-the-old-dream-of-european-hegemony/