Wolfgang Schäuble hits back at suggestions that Berlin wants to create a 'German Europe'
He has been accused of foisting German-style parsimony on the rest of Europe and deepening the economic crisis along the Mediterranean rim by his dogged insistence on austerity for all.
But in a rare intervention, Germany's eminence grise, the finance minister Wolfgang Schäuble has hit back at suggestions that Berlin is trying to create a "German Europe" by demanding that other countries behave in a more Teutonic fashion in their economic and fiscal policies.
In a sharply worded opinion piece published in the Guardian and five other European newspapers, Schäuble says Germany has been unfairly criticised both for showing too much and not enough leadership. And he warned that stereotyping Europe in market-driven north and feckless south was senseless.
"Germany has been simultaneously accused of wanting to reshape Europe in its own image and of refusing to show any leadership," Schäuble writes.
"We do not want a 'German Europe'. We are not asking others to 'be like us'. This accusation makes no more sense than the national stereotypes that lurk behind such statements. The Germans are joyless capitalists infused with the Protestant work ethic? In fact, some economically successful German regions are traditionally Catholic. The Italians are all about the dolce far niente [delicious idleness]? The industrial regions in northern Italy would not be the only ones to bristle at that. All of northern Europe is market-driven? The Nordic welfare states, with their emphasis on social solidarity and income redistribution, certainly do not fit this caricature." Reported by guardian.co.uk 1 day ago.
He has been accused of foisting German-style parsimony on the rest of Europe and deepening the economic crisis along the Mediterranean rim by his dogged insistence on austerity for all.
But in a rare intervention, Germany's eminence grise, the finance minister Wolfgang Schäuble has hit back at suggestions that Berlin is trying to create a "German Europe" by demanding that other countries behave in a more Teutonic fashion in their economic and fiscal policies.
In a sharply worded opinion piece published in the Guardian and five other European newspapers, Schäuble says Germany has been unfairly criticised both for showing too much and not enough leadership. And he warned that stereotyping Europe in market-driven north and feckless south was senseless.
"Germany has been simultaneously accused of wanting to reshape Europe in its own image and of refusing to show any leadership," Schäuble writes.
"We do not want a 'German Europe'. We are not asking others to 'be like us'. This accusation makes no more sense than the national stereotypes that lurk behind such statements. The Germans are joyless capitalists infused with the Protestant work ethic? In fact, some economically successful German regions are traditionally Catholic. The Italians are all about the dolce far niente [delicious idleness]? The industrial regions in northern Italy would not be the only ones to bristle at that. All of northern Europe is market-driven? The Nordic welfare states, with their emphasis on social solidarity and income redistribution, certainly do not fit this caricature." Reported by guardian.co.uk 1 day ago.