# taz.de -- Germany, Greece and the EU: Europe isn’t that German
       
       > What kind of a Europe do we want? Surely one that values solidarity. The
       > German course of austerity therapy has failed. It is time to correct the
       > mistakes.
       
   IMG Bild: The majority wants a Europe of solidarity, one that bands together for the weak and leaves nobody behind.
       
       BERLIN taz | „Politics begins with the contemplation of reality.“ Since the
       Greek 'no’ there have been so many lies flying around the German political
       landscape that one wants remind the top-ranking German politicians and
       leading spin doctors of that famous quote by Social Democrat Kurt
       Schumacher. Ah yes, reality. It is currently being negated by many, and
       unscrupulously reinterpreted by others. So much so that the prejudice
       within the German discourse could gain the upper hand. That, however, must
       not be allowed.
       
       The result of the Greek referendum is not, as the Bild-Zeitung imagines it,
       a simple rejection of the euro. With his policies, Prime Minister Alexis
       Tsipras has not „burnt the last bridges“ towards compromise as SPD leader
       Sigmar Gabriel maintains, nor has Tsipras’ government lit a wildfire in
       Europe, as CSU General Secretary Andreas Scheuer claimed, before he went on
       to rail against „leftist wrong-way drivers“, „blackmailers“ and „deceivers
       of the people“.
       
       Reality? You must be joking. This is what propaganda looks like –
       instrumentalising reality to one’s own ends. That kind of incitement has
       nothing to do with rationality, let alone respect for other cultures or
       democratic conventions.
       
       The question on the ballot papers was precisely formulated; it referred to
       the most recent austerity measures offered by the EU institutions – and
       nothing more. At the same time, surveys showed that a large majority of
       Greeks want to stay in the eurozone. In real terms: around 60 percent of
       all Greeks, in particular many young people, are calling for a stop to the
       brutal austerity measures. Some 40 percent of all citizens would even be
       prepared to accept further hardships, despite rampant poverty.
       
       The debt-ridden country is therefore not as torn as it would appear. The
       Greek 'no’ is in fact a committed ‚yes’. The majority want a Europe of
       solidarity, one that joins forces for the weak and leaves nobody behind. A
       Europe that does not cowtow to the euro, the stock exchange and the market,
       but one that champions the primacy of politics, fellowship and integration.
       To ask the careful question: don’t we all want that? Moreover, isn’t such a
       vision of a bountiful alliance worth a couple of billion euros?
       
       ## In essence apolitical
       
       Those who interpret this complex, conflicted situation as a vote for
       leaving the euro are acting irresponsibly – and in essence apolitically.
       One has grown accustomed to the CSU top dogs’ dulled reactions to anything
       happening beyond the Bavarian border, as if they had poured five Weißbier
       down their gullets at breakfast time.
       
       However, it is apalling to see the SPD chairman stoop to courting prejudice
       in order to clutch at percentage points. In the matter of the Greek
       question, the German Social Democrats have denied their very essence which,
       despite Agenda 2010, should have something to do with social warmth and
       international solidarity. Whether Sigmar Gabriel’s right-leaning approach
       can still win points with fearful voters remains to be seen.
       
       That the damage done to the party image will remain is clear. However,
       given the drama of the process, one could almost begin to no longer care
       about the SPD again. What kind of strange understanding of democracy is
       this anyway – to label a referendum on harsh austerity measures a trick, or
       an attempt to blackmail the EU? Chancellor Angela Merkel, Gabriel and the
       CSU leaders are otherwise constantly lauding the idea that the people must
       be allowed to speak their voice strongly. It is precisely in such European
       questions that more participation is drastically needed.
       
       ## Rituals laid bare
       
       Many harbour the prejudice that Brussels is a bureaucracy-obsessed Moloch,
       wholly detached from everyday life. When the government of an EU state
       allows its citizens to vote though, the same parties act as if it were a
       coup against the European idea. To actually implement direct democracy –
       what are these cheeky devils thinking?!
       
       The charming thing about the at times aimlessly wandering Syriza government
       is that it lays well-practiced rituals bare. With the referendum, Tsipras
       broke with prevailing EU logic. The troika had always negotiated on
       restrictions with only a few of those involved in the governments – at the
       exclusion of the parliament, not in sought-after backroom deals, and with
       criteria that almost nobody understood.
       
       The pressure that they exerted, the lack of reality in some of their
       austerity plans and the leverage enacted on parliamentary rights only came
       to broad public knowledge with the Greek crisis. One must be grateful to
       Tsipras’ left-wing government for this act of transparency.
       
       Behind the plumes of the smoke grenades being thrown by all those involved,
       what is being missed is that two policy approaches are colliding. The EU
       institutions, the German government and the other EU member states are
       adhering to the dictum that in order for an economy to grow, its markets
       need only be set up liberally enough. Tsipras and Co. are pushing for a
       Keynesian investment policy, and debt relief.
       
       ## Misguided austerity dictum
       
       Many hard facts now suggest that Germany’s approach to Greece is not
       working. In recent years, Greece has cut its budgets by more than 30
       percent. Its economy has shrunk by almost a third, unemployment has shot up
       to 27 percent. With a deep recession and excessive debt occuring side by
       side, the German chancellor must have long since realised that her
       austerity dictum is misguided.
       
       The consideration of reality, however, has certainly not begun within the
       SPD – its chairman preferring to grumble that German workers’ incomes would
       be jeopardised by a permanently subsidised Greece. That's true, but it is
       too simple. Gabriel neglects to mention that an exit from the euro – the
       notorious Grexit – would be even more expensive. Germany would have to
       immediately write off sums in the high-double-digit billions, and Europe
       would create a poorhouse on its doorstep.
       
       The worst, though, would be the disintegration that that would signal.
       Europe would no longer be a strong economy, upholding fundamental common
       values, but rather a power team geared for a competition in which
       underachievers are mercilessly left behind. Granted, it is understandable
       that Europe's political elites are vexed by the behavior of the newcomers
       from Athens. Tsipras and his finance minister have used every opportunity
       to discredit themselves.
       
       It is simply not very helpful when the negotiating parties make accusations
       of criminality and terrorism. Similarly, it is incomprehensible why a
       leftist government would resist cuts to their inflated military budget for
       so long. The nationalistic connotations in the pathos which Tsipras confers
       upon his own work are also pretty hard to bear.
       
       But anger, resentment and frustration are simply not political categories.
       They lead nowhere. Good politics are characterised by the fact that they do
       not yield to emotional temptations. The German federal government would be
       well advised to seek out the rational core and reevaluate, again and again.
       Particularly as the Germans are very powerful players in this poker game,
       and the Greeks very weak ones. Those in positions of power who kick those
       below them always come across as vile. Gabriel and Scheuer ought not to
       forget that.
       
       By contrast, the rationality of Tsipras‘ actions has been downright
       impressive. By replacing his finance minister he removed the most
       provocative player from the game. The other EU ministers would no longer
       have even sat at the same table as Yanis Varoufakis, with his successor
       they will have to. With simple matters of staff, Tsipras demonstrates his
       bargaining skills, placing the EU institutions in a tight position – and
       the European Union?
       
       ## Europe isn't that German
       
       In the face of this situation the other EU countries, Germany in
       particular, cannot permit themselves to persist with their face-saving
       posturing. Taking democracy seriously means offering Greece new
       negotiations. The German chancellor is reputedly able to learn quickly.
       That was always her greatest strength when it came to nuclear power, the
       minimum wage or family policy.
       
       So far Angela Merkel has attempted to solve the European crisis in a very
       German manner. She has set everything on the peculiar and, for the vast
       majority of peoples, entirely incomprehensible ideology that tough
       austerity is a national economic panacea. She favours infinitesimally small
       steps and dogged negotiating, as in the case between employers and
       industrial union IG Metall. She is also confident that the weakest will
       emerge from such struggles in the lead. Europe isn't that German.
       
       As ironic as it sounds, with their ‚no‘ to austerity the Greeks have given
       Merkel the chance to correct her mistakes. Helmut Kohl, who still stood for
       the true idea of Europe, would have most likely signed off on Greek debt
       relief years ago.
       
       Translation: Hans Kellett
       
       7 Jul 2015
       
       ## AUTOREN
       
   DIR Ulrich Schulte
       
       ## TAGS
       
   DIR taz-Texte zur Euro-Krise auf Englisch
   DIR taz international
   DIR taz-Texte zur Euro-Krise auf Englisch
   DIR taz-Texte zur Euro-Krise auf Englisch
   DIR taz-Texte zur Euro-Krise auf Englisch
   DIR taz-Texte zur Euro-Krise auf Englisch
   DIR Schwerpunkt Angela Merkel
       
       ## ARTIKEL ZUM THEMA
       
   DIR Democracy and the Greek crisis: Breaking Europe’s Stunned Silence
       
       No longer does anybody in Brussels dare to resist orders from Berlin. Do we
       want a Europe run by decree? It’s time for debate.
       
   DIR Schäuble’s role in Brussels: Merkel’s bogeyman
       
       Chancellor Angela Merkel’s manner over the Greek conflict has been mostly
       obliging, while her finance minister Wolfgang Schäuble played the role of
       bad guy.
       
   DIR After the Euro Summit in Brussels: Thus fails Europe
       
       Thanks to a loathsome alliance, Merkel and Schäuble have been able to
       impose all of Germany’s demands on Greece. The result is a regime of
       sanctions and coercion.
       
   DIR Economist about the ECB and Greece: Like setting off a nuclear bomb
       
       The ECB denying Greece emergency loans would be blackmail, writes the
       economist Martin Hellwig. A crisis like 1931 could be created.
       
   DIR Frist für Griechenland: Schlussstrich am Sonntag?
       
       Noch bis Sonntag bekommt Griechenland Zeit, die Voraussetzungen für neue
       Finanzhilfen zu schaffen. Sonst drohe ein „Grexit“, so die EU-Kommission.