Pflichtlektüre! Ein großes Portrait und Interview in der FT mit Jürgen Habermas:
Er erklärt zunächst, warum wir Europa brauchen – als eine rationale politische Organisationsform jenseits von Volk und Nation. Dann holt er zur großen Kritik an der Kanzlerin aus:
But there can be no better illustration of the new indifference of the new Federal Republic than her insensitivity to the disastrous impact of her words in the other member states. Merkel is a good example of the phenomenon that “gut politicians who were ready to take domestic political risks for Europe are a dying breed”.
Apart from Joschka Fischer, who ran out of steam too quickly, the generation of rulers in Germany since the chancellorship of Gerhard Schröder has pursued an inward-looking national policy. I don’t want to overestimate the role of Germany in Europe. But the breach in mentalities which set in after Helmut Kohl has major significance for Europe. The German elites seem to be enjoying the comforts of self-satisfied national normalcy: “We can be like the others once again!”
Was Griechenland angeht so ist er nicht weit von der hier vertretenen Meinung entfernt. Auf die Frage, was er von der Drohung der Kanzlerin halte, Griechenland zur Not aus der Euro-Zone zu werfen, sagt er:
Such a lack of solidarity would certainly scupper the whole project. Of course, Merkel’s statement was intended at the time for domestic consumption in the run-up to the important regional election in North Rhine-Westfalia.
Die Lösung: Mehr und nicht weniger Europa – und der Philosoph Habermas offenbart ein tieferes Verständnis der ökonomischen Zusammenhänge in der Währungsunion als Deutschlands Wirtschaftsprofessoren:
The debt crisis and the unstable euro at least touch upon the pivotal question could reflect a trace of the cunning of reason: is a stability pact riddled with holes sufficient to counterbalance the unintended consequences of a planned asymmetry between economic and political unification? The collapse of the Spanish real estate market shows that the problem is more than a matter of cheating by the Greeks. The commissioner for monetary affairs, Olli Rehn, has good reasons to call for rights of consultation and intervention for the European Commission in national budget planning.