MARCON’S GERMANY
MIROSŁAW PIOTROWSKI
‘Good cooperation for the sake of Germany, France and Europe’ – those were the wishes that the chancellor Merkel was wishing to Macron, after the victorious parliamentary election in France.
Can the order of the mentioned countries astonish? No. Definitely not. But their public revealing can. It was done by the spokesman of the chancellor. Deliberately or accidentally? In an atavistic way? After all, the president of France should mainly concentrate his efforts on multiplying the good of his country, France, and then the continent or the neighbouring countries. Even as big ones as Germany. Great joy of our neighbouring countries from behind the Odra pushed aside a traditional diplomatic carefulness. Indeed, Macron saved the ‘European project’, prevented Marin Le Pen and the so-called populists. The final exit of France from the Union threatened with the collapse of the whole Community, while the foreign policy of Germany is based on it. A day after having made a swear for the president’s post of France Emmanuel Makron made a trip to Berlin. He was making an discontinuous announcement of a closer cooperatioin with Germany. The world heard the mottos about a strategic alliance, a dear partner, accelerating the European integration. A double-acting German-French engine has surprised again.
A meeting of the governments of the both countries has been planned in July. The chancellor Merkel is glad that together with the president of France they will outline a direction of changes in the whole European Union. The latter one is so eager for it, that he must be cooled down by the more experienced German politician. Makron has submitted his idea about creating a separate budget for the countries of the euro sphere, a separate finance minister, organizing a separate European Parliament.
Merkel is more careful. She is listening to the voice of financiers predicting that another move of these ideas may be euro-obligations. Whereas it would mean a pledge of the Union for the debts made by the euro-sphere countries. Germany does not want to support this idea with its own budget, that is, take responsibility for the debts of particular countries, so they were saying through the mouth of Merkel and are saying the definite – no.
However, they are willingly supporting economic and social reforms in France. On pages of German newspapers one can read opinions that because of a long-time stagnation in France ‘euro, Europe and Germany’ are suffering. So, it is necessary to go on reducing the enormous public debt in France, high unemployment, social privileges and prolong 35-hour week of work. Will the president Macron do something about it, or will the pre-election prediction of Marin Le Pen come true, saying that regardless of the result of the presidential election, in France there will be a woman holding the authority, either she or Angela Merkel?
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„Niedziela” 27/2017