Thursday 16 August 2012

Germany´s failed foreign minister tries to save the euro with the help of his predecessors

The opposition against chanellor Angela Merkel´s policy of "more Europe" in order to save the euro is growing in Germany

Prominent euro-skeptic Frank Schäffler, who voted against a rescue package for Spanish banks in July, said that German taxpayer dollars shouldn't be put on the line to bail out governments of other European countries. "Things are moving closer and closer to a transfer union," he warned at the vote.
Bavaria's Finance Minister Markus Söder, a member of the Christian Social Union (CSU), the Bavarian sister party to Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and a crucial part of her governing coalition, said recently that Greece should leave the euro by the end of the year. Söder told the Sunday tabloid Bild am Sonntag that "each new aid measure, every easing of the demands, would be the wrong path."
Most prominent, however, have been the comments from Merkel's economy minister and vice chancellor Philipp Rösler, who said recently that a Greek exit from the common currency zone has "long since lost its horrors" for him. Rösler, as it happens, is also the current head of the FDP and was widely criticized for his comments.

Der Spiegel now tells us that Merkel´s foreign minister Guido Westerwelle - easily the worst foreign minister in Germany after WW II - is planning to save euro with  the help of some of his predecessors:

With Europe's common currency in trouble and the entire EU weakened as a result, German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle is determined to do his part to keep the euro from disintegrating. Indeed, he is now reportedly organizing a joint appearance with several former German foreign ministers from a trio of different political parties.

With the slogan, "We are for Europe," Westerwelle, of the business-friendly Free Democratic Party (FDP), is planning an appearance with his predecessors Hans-Dietrich Genscher and Klaus Kinkel, also of the FDP, Joschka Fischer of the environmentalist Green Party and Frank-Walter Steinmeier of the opposition center-left Social Democrats (SPD).

It is fortunately highly unlikely that Westerwelle´s project will have any influence on the more and more critical attitudes of ordinary Germans. When the reality of the European Union´s - and 
Germany´s - failed policies is fully exposed within the next few months, Germans will realize that Westerwelle´s and  his predecessor´s campaign is just another piece of empty rhetorics. 

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