# taz.de -- 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.
(IMG) Bild: The bosses discuss how to go ahead.
Some events are so severe one cannot bear them out for long. The Euro
Summit of July 12 and 13 was such an event. In one oppressive and feverish
overnight meeting, Chancellor Angela Merkel and Finance Minister Wolfgang
Schäuble left their mark not only on Greece, but on the whole euro zone.
Threatening to „temporarily“ exclude Athens from the euro, they imposed the
toughest conditions in the history of the euro crisis; a history already
laden with pressuring and dictates.
Since then, changes in Greece have been alarming – from a proud country
that dared a defiant „ochi“, to a mindless colony of the resurrected
troika. It’s not only Greece; the whole of Europe seems to have been left
paralysed. The 19 euro countries have agreed to a deal in which they
themselves do not believe. The International Monetary Fund has become
involved in a „rescue“ which is already known to be doomed, but which
nobody dares to refuse. Europe is in shock, a leaden mortis has enveloped
the euro zone.
No more clearly can this be seen than in the European Commission and its
president Jean-Claude Juncker. Having stepped up to bring the EU onto a
socially acceptable course for recovery, Juncker today no longer even dares
to present an impact analysis for new austerity measures for Greece. The
man who wanted to conduct a „political commission“, and in June presented
himself as a confident mediator is today begging Berlin for approval of the
new memorandum.
The Euro Group has transformed, too. Called into existence by France in
order to lay the foundations for a growth-oriented „economic government“,
today no political debate with this informal conglomerate is possible.
Greece’s former Minister of Finance Yanis Varoufakis tried, and failed
resoundingly. Under Schäuble’s uncanny direction, the Euro Group is merely
a club of small shopkeepers attending to it that German „stability“ rules
are complied with.
National economic findings play as negligible a role as democratic
practices. On the contrary; in the Euro Group of 2015 it is good form to
disregard the results of elections and referendums, and to prepare
decisions based on secret „non-papers“, unavailable for public debate. With
his submission prior to the Euro Summit of the „time out“ for Greece,
Schäuble honed this approach to perfidious perfection.
Against this background, it is no wonder that many get the feeling that
this is no longer their Europe. The southern Europeans in particular are
losing faith in democracy, as no less than the employer-focused „Institut
der deutschen Wirtschaft“ discovered. However, discontent is also on the
rise within Germany. Even as Merkel and Schäuble celebrate record approval
ratings, 56 percent of Germans think the Greek crisis has been mismanaged.
While the Euro Summit may have averted the largest immediate danger of a
Grexit and its chaotic consequences, the most important asset up until this
point – European political consensus – was broken with, for citizens as
well as politicians. For the first time in EU history, Merkel and Schäuble
overtly threatened a member country with expulsion. In another first, they
openly defied France’s interest in keeping Greece in the euro, and refused
to debate on a „Grexit“. This will bear consequences.
One need not go as far as Shahin Vallee, previous advisor to the former
Council President Herman Van Rompuy. The Frenchman warned that the Greek
deal could destroy the euro by undermining the trust between Germany and
France. One also need not see things as bleakly as Greece’s Varoufakis, who
insinuated that Schäuble’s true goal was to discipline France. It is
nevertheless clear that the Euro Summit marked a rupture in Franco-German
relations.
The European Commission will now need to dress for the cold. Schäuble will
not be satisfied with simply reining Juncker in and deterring any
„interference“ in the affairs of the creditors. Next, he wants to even
curtail the responsibilities of Brussels’ authorities to monitor EU
treaties and competition law through, for instance, the creation of an
independent competition regulation authority. He appears to want to seize
this opportunity to break up power in Brussels.
So seen, the German walkover in Greece could be simply the prelude to a
much larger battle. If Berlin were to succeed in pressing Paris to the
margins and weakening Brussels, then „German Europe“ will have triumphed.
Nobody could then oppose Germany’s future wishes – with the exception
perhaps of British Prime Minister David Cameron, whom Merkel and Schäuble
still require for their power games. „Plan the Grexit, prevent the Brexit“
is the name of Schäuble’s game.
Only the next two years will tell whether that strategy pays off – the
leadup to the referendum in the UK, and the presidential elections in
France. Germany, too, will hold elections in 2017. The EU is therefore
about to see the most important months of its history. During them, the
union will decide whether it disintegrates, whether it pulls itself back
together or, with seemingly no alternative, whether it will submit to the
outcomes of German leadership. It is high time for debate in Europe –
particularly in Germany, where the strings are being pulled.
That debate is simply not getting into gear. Following the debacle of the
July Euro Summit a state of post-traumatic shock has set in not only in
Brussels, but also in Berlin. A state which has stunned all reasoning into
a stupor. That is too dangerous – it endows Schäuble and the apologists of
German Europe a power that they do not deserve.
Translation: Hans Kellet
17 Aug 2015
## AUTOREN
(DIR) Eric Bonse
## TAGS
(DIR) taz-Texte zur Euro-Krise auf Englisch
(DIR) Schwerpunkt Brexit
(DIR) Lesestück Recherche und Reportage
(DIR) EU
(DIR) Schwerpunkt Flucht
(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) taz-Texte zur Euro-Krise auf Englisch
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