The “paradigm shift” in German foreign policy

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The “paradigm shift” in German foreign policy
3 April 2010

A number of recent commentaries in the German press have expressed
alarm over the course adopted by German Chancellor Angela Merkel
regarding the Greek debt crisis. At last week’s meeting of European
Union heads of state in Brussels, Merkel dictated terms and made clear
that any financial support from Europe for Greece would be linked to
punitive conditions and would be forthcoming only as a last resort.

While Merkel's stance has been hailed in a number of right-wing
political commentaries and praised by Germany's tabloid press, other
commentators have noted that it represents a fundamental shift in
German foreign policy with far-reaching and potentially dangerous
consequences.

The latest edition of Der Spiegel magazine poses the issue with the
headline: “How European is Angela Merkel? Chancellor Abandons Post-War
EU policy." Applauding the role of "Germany's great pro-European
chancellors"—the two conservatives Konrad Adenauer and Helmut Kohl and
the Social Democrat Helmut Schmidt—the magazine describes Merkel's
approach to the Greek debt crisis as a "paradigm shift" in German
foreign policy, representing a fundamental break with the policies of
her predecessors.

Previously, the magazine writes, the German chancellor's approach was
to "quietly and steadfastly pursue her interests in Brussels with the
help of key partners or the European Commission." Now, Der Spiegel
remarks, Merkel has become “the first chancellor to have abandoned
this principle on an important issue. She has made it clear that there
are German interests and European interests, and that they are not
necessarily the same.”

The same point is made by Joschka Fischer, Germany's foreign minister
and vice-chancellor from 1998 to 2005 and the leader of the German
Green Party for almost 20 years, in a commentary published earlier
this week in the Süddeutsche Zeitung.

In a piece entitled “Frau Germania,” Fischer asks, "What is the matter
with Angela Merkel? Only a short while ago, the German chancellor was
celebrated as ‘Ms. Europe’; now she increasingly gives the impression
of being Frau Germania. Instead of providing resolute leadership in
the global financial and economic crisis, the EU's largest economy is
withdrawing into its shell."

Fischer points out that up to now Germany has been able to profit
considerably from the process of European integration. He writes,
"Germany has always been the motor of European integration, in
accordance with its political and economic interests…. The motto was
simple: Germany gives and profits in turn. Should Germany spurn the
first part of this formula, the European project would suffer serious
damage—and so would German national interests. Yet this is the
direction in which Chancellor Merkel seems to be heading."

Fischer goes on to criticize Merkel's call for the expulsion of
Eurozone members that do not meet financial criteria, and asks, "Does
she seriously believe that the euro and the EU would survive such
punitive action?"

He also points out that Merkel's insistence on harsh austerity
measures on the part of Greece and other Eurozone countries will prove
detrimental to German interests, leading to "deflation in these
countries, which are the most important markets for German exports."

The main responsibility for the current conflict within the EU,
according to Fischer, rests with Germany and France. "Rather than
lead, the Franco-German couple is constantly, and publicly, at each
other's throats. While this quarrel is about who should pay for
restructuring Greece, the real issue is the latent distrust between
the two partners, which carries the danger of a permanent estrangement."

Fischer speaks on behalf of a layer of the German bourgeoisie that is
eager to use the vacuum of power opened up by the decline of the US to
increase German and European influence on the world stage. In a speech
at Humboldt University in Berlin in 2007, Fischer had deplored
“Europe’s growing insignificance in the world” under conditions of
"the self-weakening of the United States due to its politics of
unilateralism…."

One year later, Fischer called for the establishment of a “European
avant-garde” to advance the interests of German and European
capitalism under conditions of mounting trade conflicts with the US on
one side and China and Asian countries on the other. The motor for his
"avant-garde" was to be a strong German-Franco axis.

Now Fischer is forced to acknowledge that his hopes of a harmonious
union of European states have been dashed. In the wake of the
2007-2008 financial crisis, naked national interests are increasingly
dominating the political stage in Europe. There are powerful economic
factors behind this development. The latest figures for labour costs
provide an insight into the enormous economic gulf prevailing across
the European continent.

With labour costs averaging €30.9 per hour, Germany ranks seventh
among European countries. In Poland, a mere two hours drive eastwards
from the German capital of Berlin, labour costs are nearly 80 percent
cheaper at €6.9 per hour. EU member Bulgaria ranks last, with average
hourly labour costs of €2.9.

At the same time, the financial crisis has led to a pronounced social
polarization within individual countries.

These underlying economic differences are driving European nations
apart and leading them to adopt increasingly nationalist policies.

The change in German policy towards Europe has profound political
implications. For over four decades, peace in Europe was linked to the
division of the continent's leading industrial power, Germany,
overseen by a powerful America on one side and the Stalinist
bureaucracy in Moscow on the other. The collapse of the Stalinist
states, the end of the cold war and the weakened position of the
United States have created the conditions for a reunited Germany to
once again assert its interests on the world stage.

Fischer writes that the stance taken by Merkel represents withdrawal
by Germany into its national shell, but there can be no retreat from
the world market by the biggest and most export-oriented economy in
Europe. The powerful productive forces unleashed by a united Germany
are forcing the German bourgeoisie to step out from behind the scenes
and find a way to "organize Europe" more directly and nakedly in
accordance with Germany’s financial interests.

Twice in the last century, German expansionism was a decisive factor
in drawing Europe and the world into war. A renewed attempt at a
forceful reorganization of Europe by Germany will inevitably revive
old antagonisms, with catastrophic consequences for the continent.

This underscores the necessity for the working class of Europe to
advance its own independent perspective, based on the united struggle
of European workers against the European bourgeoisie on the
revolutionary program of the United Socialist States of Europe, in
solidarity with the world working class.

Stefan Steinberg

http://wsws.org/articles/2010/apr2010/pers-a03.shtml

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