In the 2012 summer issue of the International Economy, under the headline, “The Disrobing of Angela Merkel – In the great struggle over the eurozone´s future, Club Med won” (http://www.international-economy.com/TIE_Su12_Engelen.pdf, this Merkel watcher noted: “Although generally known for her careful worded comments and her penchant for hedging her bets, German Chancellor Angela Merkel made a statement that challenged all the mighty interests worldwide who are counting on the issuance of Eurobonds. Prior to the June Brussels EU summit, she stated according to who were present: ”There will be no collectivization of debt of the European Union for as long as I live” The Financial Times Deutschland commented:” It is a sentence that will haunt her for a long time to come”.
That day came when Angela Merkel – who in several coalitions has been at the head of the German governments since November 2005 – showed up before the press with French President Emmanuel Macron and announced that both would propose to the twenty-seven EU member states, for the first time, to take on debt together to cope with the devastating coronavirus crisis. They proposed a € 500 billion rescue fund of grants, financed on the basis of member states budget contributions and supplemented by new EU Commission revenues.
The editors of Euroactiv offer an interesting analysis for the German Chancellor`s sudden turn on the issue of European Union debt collectivization:” If one had to name a day on which Merkel took up the fight for her legacy as a European shaper, it would have been 18 May” (of this year).
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