Lately, the Franco-German couple has no longer seemed to give the European Union the impulse it has always, at time of crisis, provided it with. Nicolas Sarkozy, although on every fronts, from the operation in Libya to the eurocrisis, has had trouble in convincing his German counterpart to act proactively on those issues. Angela Merkel, at odds with the leadership usually exercised by German chancellors, seems far from being willing to display a common European vision with the French. Dubbed “cold feet”, undecided, it is sometimes difficult to infer whether the German iron lady really wants to save the eurozone, or only get her money back…
From de Gaulle to Chirac, from Adenauer to Schroeder, French and German head of states have often, in particularly difficult times, acted in contradiction with the will of their own people (lets just remember Willy Brandt’s Ostpolitik, or Helmut Khol with the reunification of Germany), for what they thought was the right thing to do. Most of the time, French and German acted together, supporting each other and allowing the whole Europe to overpass crisis. Today, in the midst of the worst economic – but also political – crisis in decades, the picture is rather alarming for the Franco-German couple. Both head of states do not seem to share the same views on how to cope with the crisis, and the result is a progressive worsening of the situation.
Angela Merkel is particularly worrying, as she seems no longer interested in acted in a common fashion with Nicolas Sarkozy. This state of things has already been highlighted during the Franco-English operation in Libya: she preferred to vote against her European partners within the UN Security Council, and abstain together with Russia or China. In the end, the way Germany acts has great political repercussion for the EU in general : Although the first UN ‘responsibility to protect’ operation could indeed have been a tremendous success labelled ‘European’, it ended as a French and British success only.
The Greek crisis represents another illustration where French and German leaders can apparently not get along either. In spite of Nicolas Sarkozy’s proclaimed determination to save the Greek, save the euro and save Europe, the inability of both European leaders to come to an agreement has prevented any substantial plan to be reached before the 21st of July. Too bad both leaders do not share the “vision européenne” that was conveyed by the special relation existing between Helmut Schmidt and Giscard d’Estaing, or Helmut Khol and Mitterrand. As Alain Duhamel says, Nicolas Sarkozy has the will but not the means to act, while Angela has the means – a strong economy – but not the will.
Merkel has taken too much time to wake up, and Sarkozy has overrated the weight of France on European decision making, especially when economic and financial spheres are at stake. After months and months of indecisiveness, the tension on the economic union has now reached an unprecedented level. It took almost a semester for the EU to react to the crisis; months where Paris tried, scrambling along, but with no bargaining space, to convince its incompliant ally to accept its ideas: a European Financial Stability Fund (EFSF), a European economic governance, a potential Eurobond…Many tools that could have been efficient if put in place while it was still time.
Angela Merkel has now promised, together with French president Nicolas Sarkozy, that she will not give up on Greece.
Probably, the German chancellor finally realised that if Greece is left alone and kicked out of the eurozone, it is the whole monetary zone that risks exploding. And in that case, why should states maintain the EU? Without economic union, there is no strong rational justifying a political union.
Let’s now hope that Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy will, together, make the most of their promise. With Greece on the edge of being in default, it could be the end of the whole Union. And they will be the ones, within the EU but also within their countries, to pay the consequences of such a catastrophe.
Olivia de Guerry aka Angela Shoeman
Membre des Cabris de l’Europe
