German vice-chancellor Sigmar Gabriel says break-up of EU no longer 'unthinkable' [up] 
Politician says Angela Merkel needs to give some ground to France in order to prevent the anti-EU Marine Le Pen becoming president
Germany's insistence on austerity in the euro zone has left Europe more divided than ever and a break-up of the European Union is no longer inconceivable, German Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel told Der Spiegel magazine.
Gabriel, whose Social Democrats (SPD) are junior partner to Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives in her ruling grand coalition, said strenuous efforts by countries like France and Italy to reduce their fiscal deficits came with political risks.
"I once asked the chancellor, what would be more costly for Germany: for France to be allowed to have half a percentage point more deficit, or for Marine Le Pen to become president?" he said, referring to the leader of the far-right National Front.
"Until today, she still owes me an answer," added Gabriel, whose SPD favours a greater focus on investment while Merkel's conservatives put more emphasis on fiscal discipline as a foundation for economic prosperity.
The SPD is expected to choose Gabriel, their long-standing chairman who is also economy minister, to run against Merkel for chancellor in September's federal election, senior party sources said on Thursday.
Asked if he really believed he could win more votes by transferring more German money to other EU countries, Gabriel replied: "I know that this discussion is extremely unpopular."
"But I also know about the state of the EU. It is no longer unthinkable that it breaks apart," he said in the interview, published on Saturday.
Link.
criticalreader
"Because Germany is the biggest beneficiary of the European community – economically and politically." Very nice for Germany, but not sustainable if the rest of Europe is circling the plughole, economically speaking.
The EU needs to be reformed from the ground up, as the present stifling dogmas of "more Europe" are in full contradiction with the very cultural foundations and differences that make Europe so unique. Attempting to force all Europeans into an ideological mold with the brutal force of the EU-newspeak sledgehammer, where nothing must ever be questioned, has failed miserably. The EU Politburo has turned Europe into a non-democratic continent, with millions of citizens struggling to make ends meet, while the banks and large corporations thrive. This is not realistic.
Hoping that all Europeans will be as productive and quality conscious as Fritz the German is a hopeless illusion. The real question is what was wrong with the former European Economic Community (EEC) structure, which paved the way to free trade, but also enabled its European member countries to retain national sovereignty, and above all, control of their respective national economies without the straitjacket of a single currency. Incredibly, it was France that imposed the Euro on Germany, and was thus granted to proceed with reunification. French economic policy is now largely decided in Berlin, probably not what France expected to see. German control without the sound of marching soldiers.
Any deficit leeway now granted to France, in a bid to prevent Mrs Le Pen from being elected, would come far too late: after the successive failure of presidents Sarkozy and Hollande, and unemployment numbers nudging the 6-million mark, French voters are going to ensure that the next elected president and government implement changes to soften their plight - in spite of the fact that 56% (!) of French GDP is linked to government services. Chances are that a majority of French citizens would now vote to leave the EU if a referendum were to be held. The Italians would doubtlessly do likewise. The German locomotive is powering along like a Porsche, but the wagons are becoming detached one after the other, Mr Gabriel.
Only a return to a structure similar to that of the former EEC may allow the post-1945 European project of economic and political cooperation, aimed at preventing future wars, to survive. The old guard in Brussels (Juncker et al.) need to be replaced ASAP, with key decision-making powers restored to the member countries. Above all, the interests of the average European citizens need to be taken into account: more democracy, please! Trying to insist on the EU being progressively transformed into a new form of "EUSSR" will indeed fail sooner than many among the political elites would like to think. Maybe "less Europe" is the correct answer?
2017 thus needs to be a year of action, Mr Gabriel. One can only hope that Mrs Merkel is voted out of office after the next elections in Germany. She is one of the key reasons why a majority of British voters opted for Brexit.
[video=youtube;y_n98nPp3zA]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_n98nPp3zA[/video]
Politician says Angela Merkel needs to give some ground to France in order to prevent the anti-EU Marine Le Pen becoming president
Germany's insistence on austerity in the euro zone has left Europe more divided than ever and a break-up of the European Union is no longer inconceivable, German Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel told Der Spiegel magazine.
Gabriel, whose Social Democrats (SPD) are junior partner to Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives in her ruling grand coalition, said strenuous efforts by countries like France and Italy to reduce their fiscal deficits came with political risks.
"I once asked the chancellor, what would be more costly for Germany: for France to be allowed to have half a percentage point more deficit, or for Marine Le Pen to become president?" he said, referring to the leader of the far-right National Front.
"Until today, she still owes me an answer," added Gabriel, whose SPD favours a greater focus on investment while Merkel's conservatives put more emphasis on fiscal discipline as a foundation for economic prosperity.
The SPD is expected to choose Gabriel, their long-standing chairman who is also economy minister, to run against Merkel for chancellor in September's federal election, senior party sources said on Thursday.
Asked if he really believed he could win more votes by transferring more German money to other EU countries, Gabriel replied: "I know that this discussion is extremely unpopular."
"But I also know about the state of the EU. It is no longer unthinkable that it breaks apart," he said in the interview, published on Saturday.
Link.
criticalreader
"Because Germany is the biggest beneficiary of the European community – economically and politically." Very nice for Germany, but not sustainable if the rest of Europe is circling the plughole, economically speaking.
The EU needs to be reformed from the ground up, as the present stifling dogmas of "more Europe" are in full contradiction with the very cultural foundations and differences that make Europe so unique. Attempting to force all Europeans into an ideological mold with the brutal force of the EU-newspeak sledgehammer, where nothing must ever be questioned, has failed miserably. The EU Politburo has turned Europe into a non-democratic continent, with millions of citizens struggling to make ends meet, while the banks and large corporations thrive. This is not realistic.
Hoping that all Europeans will be as productive and quality conscious as Fritz the German is a hopeless illusion. The real question is what was wrong with the former European Economic Community (EEC) structure, which paved the way to free trade, but also enabled its European member countries to retain national sovereignty, and above all, control of their respective national economies without the straitjacket of a single currency. Incredibly, it was France that imposed the Euro on Germany, and was thus granted to proceed with reunification. French economic policy is now largely decided in Berlin, probably not what France expected to see. German control without the sound of marching soldiers.
Any deficit leeway now granted to France, in a bid to prevent Mrs Le Pen from being elected, would come far too late: after the successive failure of presidents Sarkozy and Hollande, and unemployment numbers nudging the 6-million mark, French voters are going to ensure that the next elected president and government implement changes to soften their plight - in spite of the fact that 56% (!) of French GDP is linked to government services. Chances are that a majority of French citizens would now vote to leave the EU if a referendum were to be held. The Italians would doubtlessly do likewise. The German locomotive is powering along like a Porsche, but the wagons are becoming detached one after the other, Mr Gabriel.
Only a return to a structure similar to that of the former EEC may allow the post-1945 European project of economic and political cooperation, aimed at preventing future wars, to survive. The old guard in Brussels (Juncker et al.) need to be replaced ASAP, with key decision-making powers restored to the member countries. Above all, the interests of the average European citizens need to be taken into account: more democracy, please! Trying to insist on the EU being progressively transformed into a new form of "EUSSR" will indeed fail sooner than many among the political elites would like to think. Maybe "less Europe" is the correct answer?
2017 thus needs to be a year of action, Mr Gabriel. One can only hope that Mrs Merkel is voted out of office after the next elections in Germany. She is one of the key reasons why a majority of British voters opted for Brexit.
[video=youtube;y_n98nPp3zA]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_n98nPp3zA[/video]
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