Durchwursteln verboten
Joschka Fischer, Süddeutsche Zeitung
February 22 2010

Greece is the second EU country after Ireland to feel the real pinch of world financial recession; but saving her will be much more difficult since it involves overhauling the country’s entire social and political system. Greece will have to reinvent herself as a country. The EU may leave her bankrupt or in the hands of the Monetary Fund, but we will have to help her start again, since Greece is not the only Euro-zone country assailed by the finance markets and the very existence of the Euro is at stake. We note here an evident weakness of the Euro, namely that governments no longer fall for political reasons. One sees the effect of Europe’s failure to integrate politically. The European leaders must find creative new responses to the crisis: but these will not be easy and not without political cost. It may be necessary to review Maastricht and find new mechanisms of control. Recently chancellor Merkel has been showing less aversion than in the past to the idea of “European economic governance”. The ball is now in Sarkozy and Merkel’s court: theirs to steer the barque of Europe through this storm.