Fri Jun 8th, 2012 at 05:09:22 AM EST
Yesterday, in a television interview, the German chancellor made clear:
BBC News - Germany's Chancellor Merkel urges EU political union
"budget consolidation and growth are two sides of the same coin. Without solid finances, there is no growth, but solid finances alone are not enough; there are other points - above all, questions of competitiveness," she said.
In other words, no change in the German neoliberal mantra: slash public services, increase labour market precarity in order to reduce wages -- which both mean increasing inequality and poverty in any country, including Germany, and far more so in countries straitjacketed into brutal deflation.
A month or so ago, just before François Hollande won the French presidential election, the German government in the person of its finance minister explained how "Europe works":
Schaeuble Says Germany Will Negotiate With Hollande - Bloomberg
“We’ve told Mister Hollande that the fiscal pact has been signed and that Europe works along the principle of pacta sunt servanda,” meaning agreements must be kept, Schaeuble said in a speech in the western German city of Cologne today.
Let's see: here are some excerpts from agreements Germany has signed and ratified:
From the statements of intent in the preamble to Treaty on European Union (my bold):
RECALLING the historic importance of the ending of the division of the European continent and the need to create firm bases for the construction of the future Europe
CONFIRMING their attachment to fundamental social rights as defined in the European Social Charter signed at Turin on 18 October 1961 and in the 1989 Community Charter of the Fundamental Social Rights of Workers
DESIRING to deepen the solidarity between their peoples
RESOLVED to achieve the strengthening and the convergence of their economies
DETERMINED to promote economic and social progress for their peoples
From the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union:
RESOLVED to ensure the economic and social progress of their States by common action to eliminate the barriers which divide Europe
AFFIRMING as the essential objective of their efforts the constant improvements of the living and working conditions of their peoples
RECOGNISING that the removal of existing obstacles calls for concerted action in order to guarantee steady expansion, balanced trade and fair competition
ANXIOUS to strengthen the unity of their economies and to ensure their harmonious development by reducing the differences existing between the various regions and the backwardness of the less favoured regions
Since negotiating, signing, and ratifying those treaties, Germany has pursued self-aggrandising policies, via internal devaluation, at the expense of its European partners. Herr Schaüble: what is Germany's signature worth?