Hmm…I admit I didn’t understand much of what I just read, but isn’t the EU meant to be like a commonwealth of sorts? Member states having power in their own areas and then a central, national/eurowide government in Brussels? Or is that the point, that there /isn’t/ a central, eurowide government at all???
That’s the point; because there isn’t, there’s a free for all of each country trying to appease its ruling class. Mrs. Merkel wants to make sure German investors get the best deal possible even if they did exploit the Greek crisis. The same is true of other economically powerful EU countries.
Ah, the penny just dropped. Here the representatives of the Federal Government are elected from all the states and municipalities…by the voters. They are not just whoever happens to be the Premier of a given state or municipality. So in our system, Angela Merkel would only have power within Germany itself. Other German representatives would be charged with helping to oversee the whole of the EU.
In a nutshell: At the moment the deal in the Eurozone is whichever countries have the money, have the power. Germany is number one and France is number two. So they exercise inordinate power over everyone else. The markets want austerity because that translates to cheap labour and incredible reductions of worker’s rights. That means high dividends (profits) for the ‘owner’ class across the board- at the expense of the people at the bottom. Germany supports that position.
My Mazamet 
Hmm…I admit I didn’t understand much of what I just read, but isn’t the EU meant to be like a commonwealth of sorts? Member states having power in their own areas and then a central, national/eurowide government in Brussels? Or is that the point, that there /isn’t/ a central, eurowide government at all???
LikeLike
That’s the point; because there isn’t, there’s a free for all of each country trying to appease its ruling class. Mrs. Merkel wants to make sure German investors get the best deal possible even if they did exploit the Greek crisis. The same is true of other economically powerful EU countries.
LikeLike
Ah, the penny just dropped. Here the representatives of the Federal Government are elected from all the states and municipalities…by the voters. They are not just whoever happens to be the Premier of a given state or municipality. So in our system, Angela Merkel would only have power within Germany itself. Other German representatives would be charged with helping to oversee the whole of the EU.
LikeLike
In a nutshell: At the moment the deal in the Eurozone is whichever countries have the money, have the power. Germany is number one and France is number two. So they exercise inordinate power over everyone else. The markets want austerity because that translates to cheap labour and incredible reductions of worker’s rights. That means high dividends (profits) for the ‘owner’ class across the board- at the expense of the people at the bottom. Germany supports that position.
LikeLike
Gah. 😦 And people are putting up with this because…? I can understand now why so many want to quit the EU.
LikeLike
And all the other countries are staying put because they hope to become one of the powerful ones? Sounds like a pyramid scheme.
LikeLike