the US Senate approved further sanctions against the pipeline “Nord stream-2” from Russia to Germany under the Baltic sea. To accelerate the adoption of sanctions to be included in the draft defense budget. If earlier penalties were imposed against the companies of the construction of the pipeline, now they must get lawyers, insurance companies and ports. The defence budget remains to be agreed upon between the Senate and the House of representatives, then the document will be submitted for signature to Donald Trump. He will sign. Meanwhile, the Berlin slowly grows to retaliatory sanctions against the United States. Germany might oppose America?
on 1 July at the Brandenburg gate in Berlin, the Minister of foreign Affairs of Croatia, donated by the German colleague the baton six-month EU presidency. Two men on a nearly empty Paris of square. Someone joked that this had better be a magic wand, hinting that solve the problems of the European Union now can only wonder.
There is nothing to compare. Angela Merkel in power for so long that she was the only one of the current politicians who takes control of the Council of Europe for the second time. And in 2007 at the Brandenburg gate was different, happy and rosy: a crowd of colleagues with congratulations, behind the scene of the concert. All was to come: the financial crisis, the bankruptcy of southern Europe, Ukraine, Brexit, refugees, trump, the “Yellow jackets”, the coronavirus… Now there is nothing to celebrate — an urgent need to look for money.
a 7-year budget needs to restart the EU economy after the pandemic coronavirus. To soberly assess the situation — is over-ambitious task for the unclear term. It is still unclear what will be the losses — 6, 10, and 20% of total GDP.
Airbus announced a reduction of 15 thousand jobs, such as large-scale layoffs plans of Renault. Bankrupt airlines, closed hotels. Hope that the holiday season will support tourical industry, yet seem overly optimistic. Paris cafes and shops are almost empty. Americans who have made it 50% of revenue, no. No Russians and the Chinese. 10 percent only filled the resorts in Northern Italy. In Spain — wild unemployment and the queue for the free food. And everyone in Europe, including the European Commission President, look at Merkel and waiting for her miracle. Right now.
German Chancellor tries. Very. Merkel even had some work done. A couple of months ago, she infuriated colleagues with his stubborn refusal to release the total liabilities to obtain loans in the foreign market. But now she changed her mind. Germany must still sell their products to neighbors. And they will buy them without money? The Chancellor gave the nod to the establishment of the budget anti-crisis Fund amounting to 750 billion euros. This will be enough for the first time, although it is necessary to estimate who and how many will receive for free, and that you have to give. The main opponent of Merkel in the debate about Eurobonds was the President of France. Now the Macron managed to cajole.
Merkel bought the loyalty of France for six months because of squabbling, internal and external, she has been through enough. Critical moment the German presidency will be November 3 — U.S. presidential election. As they drew nearer, trump will be more like a bull in a China shop. At least in Germany.
the American President confirmed plans for the withdrawal of 9.5 thousand U.S. military from Germany. In addition to the negative political signal that means that one, and maybe two German town somewhere in Bavaria will find themselves without a livelihood. Trump directly told Merkel by telephone that she was stupid and in the pocket of Russian, because buys their gas and supports the “Nord stream-2”. But for Merkel, there’s no way she’d be happy to get along with trump and every platform says that Russia is Germany “peaceful coexistence”, not more than thatth, however, the rejection of Russian gas is excessive, the price of friendship with the current US administration, whatever sanctions there is no thought.
Merkel rarely anything agrees with his predecessor as Chancellor, Gerhard Schroeder, and Schroeder almost always disagree with her. But the question of the construction of “Nord stream-2” is an exception. And there is nothing strange: the German economy for the last half century has grown at available Siberian gas.
But Europe is not uniform. The interests of the neighbors, if the same, then not a hundred percent. And there are those who will not upset the failures of Germany. Recently in Warsaw was held a meeting of leaders of the Visegrad group, which includes Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Their Union is soldered to the General denial of immigration policy Merkel. With the arrival of trump, has opened a new perspective: instead of Germany, Poland, opened its borders to American troops and liquefied natural gas, has become a Washington favorite and a new center of power. For officials in Brussels this is a serious signal that adds weight to the wishes of the Visegrad four.
“We want our region became the center of development in Europe after the pandemic. We have big ambitions, but also large development needs. That is why we want the European budget, focusing on development, European cohesion and major infrastructure investment to stimulate the European economy, including in our region,” said Angda Duda, the President of Poland.
“We want,” said Duda, the President of the country, and so receiving the largest grants from the European budget. And all want. If six months from now, when Germany will pass the baton to the helpless Portugal, the situation would be more hopeless than it is now, nobody will hesitate to poke Merkel the finger and say that it failed. And the price for this failure may be extremely high.
During the 13 years that separate the first and second presidency Merkel, the EU had to experience a lot of known troubles. This led to the fact that for the poorest part of Europe the sense of co-existence are constantly narrowed and simplified. At this point in time it all came down to one thing: Yes, when things are more or less well, Germany earns more money, but if it’s bad, it pays. According to the magazine Spiegel, the failure of Merkel could be the end of the European project in its current form.
Text: “News of the week”
