In der Bundesrepublik hat seit der Wiedervereinigung ein politischer Mentalitätswandel stattgefunden. Deutschland fühlt sich wieder als ein normaler Nationalstaat – und unsere Regierung benimmt sich auch so. Damit hat die Europäische Union gerade in ihrer schlimmsten Krise die leise, aber beharrlich auf eine weitere Integration drängende Stimme der alten Bundesrepublik, die sich ihrer Ausgangslage nach 1945 noch bewusst war, verloren. Diese wichtige, über Tagespolitik und Machtopportunismus hinausweisende Stimme war nie so nötig wie heute. Statt den schwächsten, nur scheinsouveränen Gliedern der Europäischen Währungsgemeinschaft einen Kurs aufzunötigen, der Opfer nur von den anderen verlangt, hätte die deutsche Regierung unter Inkaufnahme eigener Vorleistungen die Politik von Adenauer, Helmut Schmidt und Kohl fortsetzen müssen.Habermas talks about the horse-race aspects of the contest for the Presidency of the EU Commission. This basically has to do with whether Jean-Claude Juncker
Aber ungerührt von den obszön ungleichen Krisenschicksalen, hat Deutschland von der Krise auch noch profitiert. Dieses unsolidarische Verhalten muss auf uns zurückschlagen. Wir müssen aufhören, eine hochgefährliche halbhegemoniale Stellung, in die die Bundesrepublik wieder hineingerutscht ist, in alter deutscher Manier rücksichtslos auszuspielen. Sollten die Wahlergebnisse in anderen Mitgliedstaaten davon wirklich unberührt geblieben sein?
[Since reunification {1990}, a change of political mentality has taken place in the Federal Republic {Germany}. Germany against feels itself to be a normal national state - and are government conducts itself that way, as well. Because of that, the European Union precisely during its worst crisis lost the voice of the old Federal Republic, which was still conscious of its starting point in 1945 and which carefully but persistently pressed for further {European} integration. This voice, which went beyond day-to-day politics and opportunistic power politics, was never so necessary as today. Instead of requiring the weakest, only apparently sovereign members of the European currency community to follow a course that demands sacrifices of the others {i.e., besides the Germans}, the German government have to move forward the policy of {Konrad} Adenauer, Helmut Schmidt and {Helmut} Kohl, taking account of their own compromises.
But unmoved by the obscenely unequal fates during the crisis {of other eurozone countries}, Germany even profited from the crisis. This unsolidarish conduct has to bounce back onto us. We must stop playing out in the old German manner a highly dangerous, half-hegemonic position into which the Federal Republic has again slipped. Should the election outcomes in other members states really not be touched by that?
the lead candidate of the party with the largest plurality in the EP elections, the conservative (pro-Europe/pro-austerity) European People's Party (EPP), will be chosen as the EU Commission President. The EU Council actually chooses the Commission President. They are required to take account of the results of the EP vote, but not required to select the top vote-getter as President.
To take an example from one type of parliamentary system, like those of Germany and Austria. Normally, the head of state (the elected President in those two cases) would "invite" the party winning the largest vote to form a government. If the largest party has a majority, that's pretty straightforward. If they have a minority, they have to work out deals with other parties for a coalition, like the current Grand Coalition (GroKo) in Germany, headed by Angela Merkel and her CDU, with the SPD as the junior partner. If the lead party is unable to form a government, then the head of state would as the second-largest vote-winning party to form a government.
Merkel has toggled back and forth over whether she will support Juncker as Commission President, even though her CDU is part of the EPP and he was the EPP's candidate. Reportedly he was also Merkel's top choice for that role. Late last week, Merkel's was taking a classica Mugwump stance: «Wir haben Jean-Claude Juncker für das Amt des Kommissionspräsidenten nominiert. Die ganze Agenda kann von ihm, aber auch von vielen anderen durchgesetzt werden. Daran habe ich keinen Zweifel.» ("We nominated Jean-Claude Juncker for the office of the Commission President. The whole agenda can be put through by him, but also there are many others who could do it. Of that I have no doubt.") At a Brussels summit this past weekend, Juncker's candidacy faced headwinds from some of his nominal supporters in the election: British Prime Minister David Cameron, Hungary's authoritarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte. (Juncker gerät bei EU-Gipfel zwischen die Fronten Lausitzer Rundscahu/DPA 28. Mai 2014)
By Monday, Von Merkel the Great had decided to back Juncker. (If only to show she can slap down Cameron and Orbán?) Her junior coalition partner, the SPD, supposedly pushed her in the direction of backing the European popular vote. How much of this is a genuine difference between Merkel and the SPD and how much political Kabuki is hard to say.
Habermas, who has long been very concerned and outspoken about what's known as the "democratic deficit," puts a high value on the Council respecting the EP vote in this regard. In the interview published Saturday, he was pretty sour about Merkel's posture on Juncker's selection: "Merkel, die Patronin der Geberländer, will das Fenster, das sich mit der frischen Luft der Europawahl für einen solchen Politikwechsel geöffnet hat, möglichst schnell wieder schließen." (Merkel, the patron of the giver countries {the northern European countries in the eurozone}, wants to close the window as soon as possible that was opened for the fresh air of such a political change by the European election.")
Habermas also takes a dig at the quality of the EPP's own "pro-Europe" credentials:
Zum ersten Mal erfährt das Europäische Parlament eine tatsächliche Legitimation – gerade dadurch, dass die Europagegner nach scharfem Meinungskampf Sitz und Stimme erlangt haben, um so die schlappen Europafreunde wachzurütteln – und die Böcke von den Schafen trennen. Man fragt sich ja, auf welche Seite eigentlich eine EVP-Fraktion gehört, die sich nicht einmal zu ihrem eigenen Kandidaten Jean-Claude Juncker zu bekennen wagt. Während sich die CDU zu Hause immer noch als europafreundliche Partei aufplustert, denkt deren Parteienfamilie im Europaparlament offensichtlich nicht daran, „Parteifreunde“ wie die offen europafeindlichen Orbán- und Berlusconi-Abgeordneten aus ihren Reihen auszuschließen.
[For the first time, the European Parliament is experiencing an actual legitimation - precisely thereby, that the enemies of Europe {anti-EU nationalist parties} after a sharp battle of opinions gained a place and a voice, in order to shake the flaccid friends of Europe awake - and to separate the sheep from the goats. One must certainly ask on which side the EPP caucus, which isn't even trying to support its own candidate Jean-Claude Juncker, actually belongs. While at home the CDU puffs up its feathers as a Europe-friendly party, their party family in the European Parliament clearly isn't thinking about removing from their ranks "party friends" like the openly Europe-hostile representatives of Orbán {Hungarian authoritarian conservatives} and Berlusconi {Italian plutocratic conservatives}.]
Italy's social-democratic Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has been making anti-austerity noises recently, which Wolfgang Münchau seems to take seriously. (Stunde der Schuldenmacher Spiegel Online 26.05.2014) "Renzi weiß, dass er nicht gleichzeitig sparen und reformieren kann." ("Renzi knows that one cannot at the same time pursue austerity policies and put through reforms.") Just how seriously Renzi is about opposing Merkel's austerity drive remains to be seen. It's a surprise to see he's doing this much.
Renzi over the weekend announced his, not opposition, but skepticism to Juncker as EU Commission President. As Ian Traynor reports for The Guardian, Italy's Matteo Renzi joins stand against Jean-Claude Juncker for European post 06/01/2014:
On Sunday, the Italian prime minister, Matteo Renzi, signalled that Juncker may not be acceptable to him. And after losing the elections in France to the far-right Front National, François Hollande is also said to oppose Juncker, allegedly telling the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, that the job should go to the French, preferably his former finance minister Pierre Moscovici.On Renzi's position, see also Lizzy Davies, Is Matteo Renzi the man to save Europe's soul?
Merkel, Europe's most powerful leader, is seen as the pivotal figure in seeking a compromise over the commission post. She has remained equivocal over Juncker's prospects, although formally, as Germany's Christian Democratic leader, she supports him.
The Guardian 05/31/2014; Andrea Bachstein, "Wir sehen Deutschland nicht als Gegner, sondern als Vorbild" Süddeutsche Zeitung 31.05.2014.
Renzi seems to be tying his reserve on Juncker's EU Commission Presidential candidacy to his anti-austerity gestures. I want to see more before I start sharing Münchau optimsim about hims. As Davies notes, "His critics say it has barely begun, and, where it has, for instance in modest labour reform, it threatens to change the country for the worse, not the better." Althoug in the article she links, the grumping seems to be about Renzi not doing enough to push down living standards, which is a major goal of what is called "reform" in the neoliberal vocabulary: Gavin Jones, Italy's modest labor reform shows Renzi's momentum faltering Reuters 05/15/2014. If by "faltering" that means he's not doing enough to promote destructive neoliberal austerity, that's may be a good sign!
In any case, Habermas thinks it would be a very bad thing if neither of the two leading candidates were actually selected for the EU Commission Presidency. "Wenn diese Runde wirklich eine andere Person als einen der beiden Spitzenkandidaten vorschlagen sollte, würde sie das europäische Projekt ins Herz treffen." ("If this round really puts forward another person besides one of the two leading candidates, that would strike at the heart of the European project.")
Although Habermas has no sympathy for the xenophoblic program of the actual anti-Europe rightwing nationalist parties, he does encourage the supporters of the EU to think carefully about the strong performance of such parties in the EP election:
Ich finde es gut, dass die Europagegner ein Forum gefunden haben, auf dem sie den politischen Eliten die Notwendigkeit vor Augen führen, die Bevölkerungen selbst endlich in den Einigungsprozess einzubeziehen.The CSU is the especially conservative, traditionalist Bavarian sister party of the CDU, which normally acts together with the CDU on the national level. They are known for resorting to anti-immigrant demagoguery and other hardline gestures to prevent any party from developing political strength to their right.
Der Rechtspopulismus erzwingt die Umstellung vom bisherigen Elitemodus auf die Beteiligung der Bürger. Das kann dem europäischen Parlament und seinem Einfluss auf die europäische Gesetzgebung nur guttun. Anders verhält es sich mit den Auswirkungen auf die nationalen Szenen in den Mitgliedstaaten. Hier mag in einigen Ländern die Gefahr entstehen, dass sich politische Parteien einschüchtern lassen und auf einen Anpassungskurs à la CSU umschwenken.
[I take it as a good thing that the opponents of Europe have found a forum in which they are bringing before the eyes of the political elites the necessity of finally bringing the population itself into the unity process.
Rightwing populism requires the adjustment of the elite mode up until now on the participation of the citizens. That can only do good {!!} for the European Parliament and European lawmaking. There is a different effect with the implications in the national scenes in the member states. Here there could develop the danger in some countries that political parties could allow themselves to be frightened and veer toward a course of accommodate à la the CSU.]
Tags: angela merkel, austerity economics, eu, euro, european union, italy, jürgen habermas, matteo renzi
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