Germany is at a crossroads. It still fails to stand up for its economic success for reasons more to do with guilt for its Nazi past than for sound economic rationale.
Most economists – and indeed the eccentric globalist George Soros – agree that the Euro crisis could have easily been solved just by Germany exiting the common currency, the Euro.
The resulting exchange rate appreciation of a re-introduced Deutschmark would have more than compensated the less efficient countries like Portugal, Spain, Italy, Greece, Cyprus and also France in terms of competitive advantage. German products would have overnight become much more expensive and instilled equilibrium amongst EU economies and/or efficiencies.
Yet for reasons of political allegiances mired in the past – rightly or wrongly – Germany did not want to be seen as the very country that broke a currency union which, at the time, the then chancellor Helmut Kohl was a major initiator of – albeit for the same ill-judged reasons.
Germany is still trapped in its past. If a British political party would have had to endorse payments to the Eurozone & the EU on the scale Germany has done to date, it would have been committing political suicide.
No, Germany can’t go it alone, it needs a proxy ally to do the needful. Hence Angela Merkel’s tentative support for David Cameron’s ‘renegotiation’ narrative – only after the 22 May elections.
So where does UKIP fit into Germany’s dilemma? Well, if UKIP were to successfully force an IN/OUT referendum in the UK – and succeed – the EU would be thrown into turmoil, if not collapse under its own weight altogether.
Yet even Germany’s very own Euro critical party, the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), does not go as far as propagate a German EU exit altogether, it only advocates a ‘re-alignment’ within the currency union. It even openly opposes a much suggested alliance with UKIP for fear of advocating an alleged resurfacing ‘strongman of Europe’ policy.
It is therefore in the interest of the biggest net payer towards the EU straitjacket, the German taxpayer, for UKIP to act on its behalf in breaking the antiquated EU status quo.
May 9th was Victory in Europe Day, celebrating the capitulation of Hitler’s Germany to the Soviet Union and the Allies.
Sixty-nine years on, Germany should aim to look more inwards with confidence, in the same way as UKIP is inspiring the British people to do.
If the fantastic hospitality of Germany, as shown during the 2006 World Cup, is any indication of its ambition and ability to be a trusted member of the international community, a newly independent Britain and Germany will get along just fine. Now there’s three million jobs for you!
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