EU at loggerheads

European Union (EU) bureaucrats who try to liven up their show with flags and anthems fail to make much of an impression on ordinary folk. Though they may move around the continent more freely than ever before, Europeans still identify with their home countries, as any football competition will show. Meanwhile, EU bureaucrats are considered about as exciting as a cheese hot pocket.

But as mundane as EU politics may appear, one has to credit the Union with achieving what has been, in European history, a rare feat: going on 70 years of peace and cooperation in a continent which, historically, has always liked a good scrap. The thesis on which the EU was founded, that economic integration would give governments a stake in peace, has been vindicated with a long period of stability, prosperity and really bad song contests.

At its heart, let's face it, was the determination to find something that would amuse the Germans long enough that they would stop invading their neighbours. And given that the French were usually first in the line of German fire - it used to be joked that the French lined their country roads with poplars so that German troops could march in the shade - Paris was the driver of European integration.

A partnership between France and Germany thus always lay behind the most successful phases of European integration. By and large, this axis rested at the heart of European integration, and was used to bring in the other major players.

no sympathy for spendthrifts

However, since the global financial crisis, this partnership has grown strained. The underlying cause appears to be an increasing parochialism in German politics. The German government - and the German people as a whole - have done an impressive job of managing their finances, and bringing about an economic growth path that is based on investment and exports, and not just the spending of borrowed money. As a result, Germans feel little sympathy for the travails of some of their more profligate counterparts elsewhere.

Countries which went heavily into debt to build empty houses, and spent like there would be no tomorrow, elicit few tears among Swabian housewives. As Ireland, Greece, Portugal and other countries have sunk into economic crisis, ordinary Germans are wondering why they should have to foot the bill.

They have a point. The problem is, with much of Europe having adopted a common currency a decade ago, the collapse of one country would spread contagion across the region. The stronger partners had no choice but to hold their noses, and bail out the weaker ones.

Increasing friction

However, the supporters of the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, were angered by this action. In recent elections, they stayed home. This weakened her ruling Christian Democrats (a conservative party). In response, Mrs Merkel has been turning up the heat on her European partners, demanding major concessions from governments that are bailed out.

This, in turn, has angered recipient governments. They believe Germany is trying to micromanage their affairs. And because this insistence has opened fissures in the European Union, the French are none too happy with their one-time enemy, now partner.

One risk is that a two-track Europe might emerge. On one hand, the dynamic, prudent economies like Germany might seek to go their own way. The laggards, which uncomfortably are all too often near the relaxed climes of the Mediterranean, resent German imperialism. Meanwhile, within Germany, there is a growing contingent on the right which wants to withdraw into a more isolated stance. With their country exporting its manufactured goods to the world, they ask, who needs Europe?

German parochialism will not lead to a newly warlike state. Since the war, the country has transformed itself and, militarily at least, turned its back on its past. But the role of benign hegemon that it has played has benefited other Europeans. Any change in that role is bound to be difficult, and stressful.

John Rapley is the Bradlow fellow at the South African Institute of International Affairs. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and rapley.john@gmail.com.