tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7620652438500849718.post8940680475728760832..comments2024-02-25T10:22:38.186+00:00Comments on The European Citizen: Merkel and Barroso's Speeches to the EPP CongressEurocentrichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09439536905456080079noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7620652438500849718.post-51710914042832565002012-10-22T00:49:59.577+01:002012-10-22T00:49:59.577+01:00I agree that Christian Democracy provides that typ...I agree that Christian Democracy provides that type of moral/philosophical background to Merkel's/the CDU's thinking. Sadly, this perspective that Merkel is advancing runs counter to many of the possible policy options and solutions you describe in your post, and is based on an incredibly simplistic and moralistic reading of the crisis in general, and the crisis in the bail-out countries in particular.Eurocentrichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09439536905456080079noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7620652438500849718.post-65750343528935278862012-10-21T04:45:19.871+01:002012-10-21T04:45:19.871+01:00I don't think its much of a surprise that &quo...I don't think its much of a surprise that "social market economy" rhetoric seeped into Merkel's speech. After all, she hails from a country that didn't experience neoliberalism on the scale of the UK or America and she's an avowed Christian Democrat who's entire ideology is built upon helping others and bettering society as a whole. Bettering society is no simple task and Merkel understands that very well. Therefore, it comes to no surprise that she is a strong advocate of a strong, yet prudent state that helps the poor but also keeps its own fiscal house in order.<br /><br />So in other words, despite her strong austerity push, there's little doubt that Angela Merkel's own mindset and the mindset of her Christian Democratic Union is far from libertarian. Rather, she is a proponent of active government and uses the moral underpinnings of a Christian mode of thinking to justify a strong state. Still, she realizes that a strong state is prone to inefficiencies that will ultimately doom her goal of bettering society if it becomes too powerful to sustain itself. The PIGS of Europe are glaring examples of these excesses, and Merkel isn't the first to realize this.<br /><br />Like her Christian Democratic counterparts, she has again turned to morality, or rather the immorality of burgeoning amounts of debt, to justify austerity. In her eyes, debt has destroyed order and stability and with it any chances of bettering society. Thus, while public spending may be a valuable tool for lifting people out of poverty and building an inclusive society, it can also be a destructive force. When it becomes a destructive force like it did in Spain, Italy, Greece, and so many other fiscally troubled countries, governments must resort to austerity as the only means of restoring balance to their beleaguered countries. Only then will moral governance of the Christian Democratic sort be possible.<br /><br />When it comes to the Sovereign Debt Crisis as a whole, I've actually just written a nice little piece on my blog detailing a number of Euro-wide solutions, such as Euro-bonds and continent-wide financial regulation, which you might find interesting.Countdown to Novemberhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06392037198510169516noreply@blogger.com