Ulrich Beck on Angela Merkel's power strategy

German Chancellor Angela Merkel is using the crisis to exploit her power in Europe, sociologist Ulrich Beck concludes in the left-liberal daily El País: "The crisis of the euro has led to the crystallisation of new power relations. When the time comes to make decisions neither the EU Commission nor the EU president nor the current holder of the rotating EU Council presidency nor even France, Italy, Spain or the UK take action. When the moment of truth comes the German chancellor acts in coordination with French President Sarkozy. Angela Merkel is neither Angela Kohl nor Angela Brandt. Nor is she Maggie Merkel. She's Angela Bush. In the same way US President Bush used the risk of terrorism to foist his unilateralism on the rest of the world Angela Merkel is using Europe's financial risk to force Germany's stability policy on the others. The German mark was the currency of German power. The same is now to apply to the euro."

» full article (external link, Spanish)
More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » EU Policy, » Fiscal Policy, » Germany, » Greece, » Europe
All available articles from » Ulrich Beck

» To the complete press review of Friday, April 9, 2010