Dhe former EU Commissioner Günther Oettinger warns the Europeans to indulge in false illusions any longer. At the start of the second day of the FAZ’s European Economic Conference, the President of United Europe did not mince his words: “Europe is in crisis. Europe is the relegated continent,” he says. “Germany is in the middle of a recession with the highest inflation.” Earlier in the 1970s, people spoke of “stagflation” with a view to a stagnating economy paired with inflation.
There is no suitable word for the current situation. People preferred to deal with quirky things like gender asterisks. According to the former Prime Minister of Baden-Württemberg, the European Central Bank tackled its main task – to ensure monetary stability – too late and too hesitantly. After flooding the market with money and the phase of low interest rates, she now has to raise interest rates.
The companies in Europe now rank among the largest corporations in the world, as Oettinger points out. Only the Swiss stock company Nestlé has contact with the hundred largest. None from Germany or the EU belong to it. “We need a new success story for Germany and the European Union – without a permanently increasing debt burden,” warns the former commissioner.
Don’t insist on your own feelings
He proposes “retirement at 70” to stabilize social security, advocates a radical acceleration of large cross-border infrastructure projects, and pushes for “modern” free trade agreements with America and Asia. If you wait until the other 100 percent corresponds to your own sensitivities, only Switzerland and Liechtenstein remain as partners, he scoffs.
Oettinger urgently calls on the European governments to speak with one voice at the summit meeting of the twenty major economic areas in Bali (G20) in mid-November. They should take seriously China’s President Xi Jinping’s threat to annex Taiwan to his country. In that case, the West would have little choice but to radically restrict economic relations with the Middle Kingdom. “Such sanctions hit the German business model to the core,” he judges. Everyone should have an interest in avoiding such an escalation. The Europeans must make it clear to Xi at the G-20 summit in Indonesia what is also at stake for China, which also relies heavily on international cooperation.
