OR GERMAN EUROPE OR NONE

This title reflects the popular opinion of most Germans who uncritically agreed with the European course set by Angela Merkel. However, another voices from Berlin express somewhat different opinions, but they besides inform against the hazard of a possible continent rupture. Further, “El Pais” presents 3 observers breaking out of this common blindness. They believe that it is an exaggeration to tighten the "outerity" and the German obsession with standards, but request greater solidarity with countries in crisis to prevent divisions in the EU. In addition, Fritz W. Scharpf (a erstwhile manager of the Max Planck Institute in Cologne) considers that the common euro coin divides nations , as it imposes on everyone the same corset which will lead to a “saturation” (suffocation) of any EU countries. Scharpf's slogan is "Save Europe from the euro!" On the another hand, Ulrike Guérot of the ECFR in Berlin believes (like Jurgen Habermas) that the crisis (?) will prompt the EU to establish a union with the capital in Brussels with all the attributes of the state, and even the armed forces to join atomic warheads(!?) . Atoli is simply a average optimist, due to the fact that although she sees the European Republic on the horizon, at the same time she sees that the EU may be heading towards disintegration, although Germany believes Merkel has saved them from all-out chaos. Finally, Ulrich Speck, an independent analyst from Heidelberg, is the top pessimist here. In his view, Germany is not responsible, but it should be held in the position of Europe and the world. And if the euro falls, then the common marketplace will collapse and the full architecture built in the post-war period will collapse. Speck seems to inform that the euro may be a trap and that national currencies are safer.

Marek Baterovich

(see Scan pages from “El Pais”, September 11, 2013)