Paphos People

What is troubling is the new alliance being offered by the Germans with the French, Merkel is determined to have a united Europe, she was really miffed when Trump (marmite) put her in her place, now she has publically said she does not trust the US and the UK and Europe must go it alone hence buttering up the French.

Germany has profited enormously from what for it is an under valued Euro and it's lack of defence spending. It also has befitted hugely from the US and the UK guaranteeing it's safety from Russia since WW2.

This combination has seen Germany come to dominate mainland Europe economically through the Euro and it's massive trade surplus, which it does not use to spread wealth throughout Europe, but to pay for it's re-unification costs and enhance the country's own wealth

Merkel's latest statement should be a cause for concern to everyone- it is effectively saying the German dominated EU should have it's own defence capability outwith NATO and France appears to be complicit in this policy. Le Pen recently said even if she did not win the French Presidential election, France was going to have a woman in charge- and she was right.

Pipsqueak Macron's vision of Europe (Eurobonds etc) was shot down by Merkel in one day flat, effectively meaning Macron is happy to have ever more integration in Europe but with ever decreasing French influence.

I suspect that the Americans who implemented the Marshall plan to rescue Germnay and the powers that supported the London Agreement scrapping German debt would not only be appalled by the breathtaking hypocrisy of Merkel's statement, but seriously concerned about the direction she may be taking a German dominated Europe

Guten tag meine kinder und willkommen in größerem Deutschland

She won't be disappointed then when she gets a visit from RAF Bomber Command!

Was du heute kanst besorgen, das verschreiber nicht auf morgen!

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I'll be back!

Nothing has changed, the aim was always for a single European entity controlled by Germany. The difference now is that more people are beginning to see that. Germany couldn't achieve total domination in war, despite to attempts in recent history, so now it is doing so by making the rest of Europe economically dependent on it. It will end in tears as these things always do.

KG: Unbelievable post. NO words.

The truth sometimes has that effect when presented to those whose minds are closed to the realities of global politics.

I am surprised that the G7 actually consists of the leaders of the 7 leading world economie AND no less than 2 of the Presidents of the EU - currently Juncker and Tusk. As Germany, UK, France and Italy are members of the G7 because of their economic status, I see no reason for the EU to have extra representation at the table. It just gives these individuals more belief in their self-importance on the world stage and skews the balance towards Germany which pulls the strings in Europe.

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Initium Sapientiae Timor Domini

Geoff.

Hitler actually quite liked Europeans- he wasn't so hot on the Slavs and the Jews, but Europeans he saw as the perfect accompaniment to his blond haired blue eyed Aryan master race that was Germany.

Even whilst the Nazis were conquering Europe Hitler envisaged an European Economic Union outlined by Walther Funk and controlled and run by Germany !! After he was defeated the US envisaged something similar but controlled by the US.

The current EU template is almost entirely the same as that envisaged by the Nazis- an economic and political union without borders but still with nation states where the economically strongest was by definition the wealthiest. If you have a currency skewed in your favour without the fiscal transfer mechanism to distribute wealth then your strength constantly increases whilst others influence and wealth constantly decreases. To keep pace with the hegemonic power in such a system you have to to adapt to their way of working and comply with their budgetary requirements, not your own

If you are the wealthiest economy in a political union with a currency set up that suits you and no one else, then you will very quickly become rich enough to buy as much “Lebensraum” in Europe as you like.

Whoever controls the money supply controls the country- it is that simple . I'm sure Funk would be rubbing his hands in glee at the current set up and the way it is panning out. He could not have planned it better himself if he had been given the chance.

My great hope always was that the paranoia of everything called German would vanish one day. Unfortunately now the fact that they have a strong economy brings it back. Strange. I agree that a better economical balance within the EU countries would be better, but if, for you relying on an USA with Trump is the better version than to recollect to European strengths (I mean European, not EU), sorry.......
How many colonial powers who conquered other countries in the whole world for centuries are now members of the EU but this gets forgotten quickly. It's always easy to have a Jackass, which makes people forget about the politcal and economical failures of their own countries.
''An America with Trump is not the reliable partner that it was''. Absolutely right. The conclusion of this should be a better Europe, not consisting of countries who call themselves ''partners'' just to rake in money.
Economical and political issues can be discussed but the penchant for paranoia doesn' help anybody and crates an opprehensiveness,
perfect for all the populists, that raise in Europe - THEY are the black outlook for Europe.
That's what gives me a fright, not Frau Merkel.

It is not paranoia- the EU is meant to be a group of equals and it clearly is not

This is manifesting itself in rising nationalism throughout Europe because European peoples do not want to be incorporated into a European superstate led by Germany. Those are simple facts, not paranoia

The effects of the Euro on national identities were known long before the currency was launched and those fears were played down or dismissed by those promoting the project.

The EU is becoming ever less democratic. No one knows what the actual objective of the current EU set up is and no one knows what that might morph into- integration and harmony is the alleged goal, but hegemony and central control is most assuredly the way the it is going and there is no democratic way to ensure the EU changes tack at EU level. A country wishing to reassert it's right to self determination is threatened as Britain has been

Greece should not be in the Euro and the likes like France can never share the same currency as Germany without a fiscal transfer mechanism (which the Germans are flat out refusing) The Euro is grinding these countries’ sovereignty down, and the longer they put off leaving the deeper the pit becomes.

The instant effect of leaving scares governments into staying, and the long term effects of staying make leaving all the more difficult. Fortunately Britain never joined the Euro so it can still determine it’s own destiny- those still stuck in the trap are no little more than debt colonies completely at the behest of their paymasters (and Merkel knows it)

Noone was forced to join the EU. Poor, that obvioulsy all other members decided to be in the EU - why- because of the expectable bonanza??!!
Noone is interested in playing a special roll. The raising populism is definitely a product of the failed politics in countries, not a result of Merkels roll in the EU. All these love to have a strong leader.

They expected the benefits of a single market for trade which is a good thing- they did not expect a political union bring foisted on them via a currency union.

Problem is the Euro has eliminated many of the regional advantages some of the other European countries benefited from and that is why growth rates in the EU are abysmal (and even those are only being achieved by an expansion policy combined with a freedom of movement policy that was key in Britain' decision to quit)

The high economic growth before the economic crash was created by flooding banks with money and encouraging European consumers and governments to spend money like it was going out of fashion. The ECB facilitated all this and when that all turned to dust these nations found themselves up to their eyeballs in debt way beyond their previous ability to borrow and way beyond their current capacity to repay

That debt is now set in stone and will blight these countries for decades. Failure to enforce the debt will see the Euro collapse and with it 30 years of German economic progress wiped out - Merkel or any other German Chancellor will not let that happen, so you can certainly see a few problems looming on the horizon without being "paranoid"

die6,

I feel that Germany has a great deal to answer for (and I'm not referring to starting two World Wars, introducing chemical warfare to the world, starting the indiscriminate bombing of civilian cities in order to demoralise citizens and industrialising ethnic cleansing into a fine art). Those things have quite rightly been put behind us, although forgiving but never forgetting.

Germany is now a powerhouse and clearly the strongest economy in Europe. Why? Wasn't Germany economically bankrupt at the end of the war with most of its industry destroyed? Did they single handedly pull themselves out of the mess which they had created through extra hard work? Well, not exactly, Germany was a major beneficiary of US aid under the Marshall Plan (the same US which Merkel says is now an unreliable partner). More importantly, however, it was also forgiven it's debts by the rest of Europe in 1953 despite having stripped assets from those very countries during the war. Would we then not reasonably expect that a country which has been shown such magnanimity would reciprocate to poorer nations accordingly - especially from its rich abundance?

Greece was one of the countries which suffered most severely under German occupation - an already poor country stripped of all livestock, infrastructure and assets and no less than 8% of its population of 7 million killed (ten times the death rate of the UK during the war). During the last 20 years, German banks have been lending Greek citizens huge loans based on a false premise of their house and property values as members of the great EU experiment. These loans were given in order to buy what? Mercedes, BMWs, Bosch appliances etc. When the inevitable happened and those citizen's couldn't repay the substantial debts to German banks, what did Germany (and France) dream up? In order to save their commercial banks (which should have been allowed to collapse), the loans were transferred as Sovereign debt to the government of Greece which never was and is still not in a position to repay. No debt forgiveness, no thought of reciprocal magnanimity - just austerity and more austerity leading to 23% unemployment and 48% youth unemployment. Greece is now a country with crippling debts, extremely high unemployment and no hope for the foreseeable future.

What value to Greece was/is membership of the great EU experiment when treated like that by its great 'partner'?

As I started off saying - Germany has a lot to answer for.

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Initium Sapientiae Timor Domini

Good post David G, I'm not sure about the forgiving bit!

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I'll be back!

Excellent Post. ..just to add Germany emptied Greece's Banks of all its Gold during the occupation...If I was Greece I would tell the little dictator Merkel to do one..we aint paying.