Friday, July 17, 2015

German claim for hegemony in Europe - Habermas

German philosopher Jürgen Habermas writes in today's Guardian on the Greek crisis.

Below is an excerpt.

"Forcing the Greek government to agree to an economically questionable, predominantly symbolic privatisation fund cannot be understood as anything other than an act of punishment against a left-wing government. It’s hard to see how more damage could be done.

"And yet the German government did just this when finance minister Schaeuble threatened Greek exit from the euro, thus unashamedly revealing itself as Europe’s chief disciplinarian. 

"The German government thereby made for the first time a manifest claim for German hegemony in Europe – this, at any rate, is how things are perceived in the rest of Europe, and this perception defines the reality that counts. 

"I fear that the German government, including its social democratic faction, have gambled away in one night all the political capital that a better Germany had accumulated in half a century – and by “better” I mean a Germany characterised by greater political sensitivity and a post-national mentality."

1 comment:

Andreas said...

Get prepared guys, the crises doesn't stop after Greece! What happens in Ireland if the ATMs don't work?
www.veteranstoday.com/2015/07/09/greece-says-oxi-no-to-the-troika/

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