The Day After

Francesco M. Bongiovanni

Chapter Ten in The Decline and Fall of Europe, 2012, pp 241-269 from Palgrave Macmillan

Abstract: Abstract In every group of rowdy friends there is one who does not drink or drew the shortest straw and has to stay sober to drive the car after the party in order to take his friends safely home. In Europe this role belongs to Germany. Most of Europe, especially in the south, parties: Germany drives the car. This way every country does what it is best at doing. As the Eurozone’s leading economy and the euro currency’s anchor, Germany was naturally expected to be the main contributor to Greek and other rescue packages. Understandably, the disciplined and hardworking Germans were not happy about this, to the extent of German tabloid Bild yelling ‘Sell your islands, you bankrupt Greeks!’.1 Not only has Germany recently become an example of fiscal rectitude in the Eurozone (memories of Germany and France being the first to flout Eurozone rules in 2003 seem to have conveniently faded) but it has even passed a Schuldenbremse law which forces its government to balance budgets: after 2016 budget deficits will be illegal.

Keywords: Credit Default Swap; Sovereign Debt; Banking Crisis; European Bank; Lisbon Treaty (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pal:palchp:978-1-137-00906-7_11

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DOI: 10.1057/9781137009067_11

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