Once upon a time Germany tried to unite Europe by conquering it. Now Germany is trying to unite Europe by paying for it. The lower house of the German Bundestag has just signed off on a 110 billion euro aid package for Greece, 30 billion of which is supposed to come from the International Monetary Fund. The hope is that the aid will rescue Germany’s poor relations down south, who have been borrowing from their wealthy northern patrons in order to consume their goods. Sound familiar? In some ways, it resembles the United States and China, which has been buying up T-bills while Americans gobble up cheap Chinese wares.
But Europe is in a much bigger mess than America. Just as the 1989 revolutions swept through Eastern Europe, so, a little over two decades later, Western Europe is experiencing a systemic shock. For all the doom and gloom about Europe’s future, however, this crisis could actually have a silver lining. Instead of dividing Europe, it may force it together even more closely.
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