by Carrie
Fri Nov 7th, 2014 at 01:42:54 AM EST
Tageszeitung has an interview with Joschka Fischer this [Nov 1st..Ed] weekend: ,,Der erste Schritt ist eine Vision" (the first step is a vision, 31 October 2014) on the occasion of his new book advocating a United States of Europe. To the charge that he's being unrealistic in that, he answers with
Woran die EU gegenwärtig krankt, sieht man in allen drei großen aktuellen Krisen: Sowohl in den Sicherheitskrisen in Osteuropa, im Nahen und Mittleren Osten als auch in der Finanzkrise fehlt Europa die politische Kraft, der feste politische Rahmen. Die EU als Staatenverbund reicht dafür nicht mehr aus! Und wie immer in Europa ist der erste Schritt der Realpolitik eine Vision. Wenn ich Frau Merkel etwas vorwerfen muss, ist das ihre visionslose Kleine-Schritte-Politik. Ich habe nichts gegen kleine Schritte, im Gegenteil. Aber man muss wissen, wo das Ziel ist.
We see the present sickness of the EU in all three major current crises: in the security crises in Eastern Europe and the Middle East as well as in the financial crisis, Europe lacks political power or a strong political framework. The EU as a union of states no longer suffices! And as always in Europe, the first step of Realpolitik is a vision. If I have to accuse Mrs. Merkel of something it is her visionless baby-step politics. I have nothing against baby steps, on the contrary. But you have to know what the goal is.
More below the fold
promoted by afew
As TAZ concern-trolls further that Hollande or Merkel would go to electoral defeat on such a platform, he delivers a further blow against Merkel's petty politics:
Angela Merkel ist Gefangene von Verhältnissen, die sie selbst in den vergangenen Jahren produziert hat.
Angela Merkel ist a prisoner of conditions she has produced herself in past years.
Interestingly, Fischer uses the word "Verhältnisse" which is the same as Merkel uses when she says "we have been living above our means" (
über unsere Verhältnisse). I suppose we have been building a united Europe above Merkel's means. The "conditions" Merkel has created include the rise of the eurosceptic AfD, by the way.
Fischer denies that austerity is a German obsession, he attributes it to the CDU/CSU or conservatives in general, and takes the view that embarking on "structural reforms" takes precedence over balancing the budget:
Jedenfalls die [Obsession] der Union. Die CDU/CSU ist der Meinung, sparen sei die Remedur des Doktor Eisenbart und helfe für alles wie in frühmodernen Zeiten – wenn da jemand ernsthaft krank war, wurde er grundsätzlich erst mal zur Ader gelassen. Im Ausland kann niemand die deutsche Haltung nachvollziehen. Ich habe neulich einen klugen Kommentar gelesen, in dem es hieß, dass sparen die letzte Fahne ist, die den Konservativen zur Selbstidentifikation noch blieb. Man kann aber bei einer schrumpfenden Wirtschaft nicht Schuldenabbau betreiben und zugleich Strukturreformen durchführen. Als wir mit Rot-Grün 2003 die Hartz-Reformen angingen, war es unsere bewusste Entscheidung, die Maastricht-Kriterien zu verletzen. Unsere Devise war: Strukturreformen zuerst!
In any case it's that [osbession] of the CDU/CSU who believe [austerity] is a panacea(*) as in early modern times - if someone was seriously ill, he was basically bled. Abroad no one can understand the German attitude. I recently read a clever comment stating that austerity is the last flag of conservative self-identification. However, in a shrinking aconomy one can not at the same time undertake structural reforms and debt reduction. When we tackled the Hartz reforms with Red-Green in 2003, it was our conscious decision to violate the Maastricht criteria. Our motto was: structural reforms first!
(*) I translated "the remedy of Doctor Eisenbart" as "a panacea". See
wikipedia on the origin of Fischer's amusing turn of phase. And now, after this linguistics break, we return to our regularly scheduled politics.
The TAZ interviewe then confronts Fischer with the "Keynesian" charge that the Hartz reforms caused the European crisis by improving German export competitiveness, to which Fischer answers "nonsense" (Quatsch!) and defends the Hartz reforms on the need to reduce unemployment. Of course, the question is Quatsch, as the argument is a bit more complicated. The argument is not that the export competitiveness is responsible for the imbalances that led to the Euro crisis. The problem is the measurement of "export competitiveness" in terms of balance of trade and above all the depression of German domestic demand, wages and investment. Fischer frames the Hartz reforms as fighting unemployment, not as reducing wages. But it was his Chancellor Gerhard Schröder that boasted of having "one of the best low-wage sectors in the world".
After a discussion of Ukraine and Syria, the interview turns to the Green Party and the political landscape in Germany. Fischer would still like to see Red-Green coalitions with the Social Democrats, but as those are not possible the options are Black-Green with the CDU/CSU and Red-Red-Green with SPD and Linke, as just happened in the Thuringia state government. While refusing to give "advice", he does give his "analysis" which is favourable to Black-Green:
... Und ich bin überzeugt davon, dass zum Beispiel bei einer Steuerpolitik mit der Linkspartei und der SPD zusammen die Leute auch in Zukunft schreiend davonrennen werden. Dasselbe gilt für die Außenpolitik. Wie soll das mit der Linkspartei denn gehen?
...
... Ich glaube, dass die Austeritätspolitik nicht mehr bis zur nächsten Bundestagswahl bleiben wird. Da werden europäische Notwendigkeiten früher zu Kurskorrekturen führen.
... And I am convinced that, for example, people would in the future run away screaming from a tax policy with the Left Party and the SPD together. The same is true for foreign policy. How will that work with the Left Party?
...
... I believe that austerity will not last until the next federal election, since European necessities will sooner lead to a change of course.
So, Fischer's ideological dislike for the Left party forces him to (wishfully?) think that the Christian Democrats will abandon austerity. However, balanced budgets and debt reduction are written into the German constitution and, despite Fischer's protestations to the contrary, from outside Germany it does seem the SPD and the Greens are also in favour of balancing the books.
