The difficult journey towards European political union: Germany's strategic role

This paper analyzes the remedial actions adopted in Europe, focusing on Germany’s strategic role and its nationalistic resistances. In this context, common economic governance and mutual financial assistance realize an organization that provides direct advantages only to some of the Member States (i.e. the ones that have safe balances). This condition is possible because there are different needs - of legal reforms and financial aids - in the Euro countries. Clearly, this scenario is different from how in the beginning has been ascertained the need of a common space of peace and economic integration by the six states that founded the EU’s predecessor. This analysis shows that institutional answers given by new Treaties (on the Fiscal compact and on the European mechanism of stability) seem to be not adequate to deal with the systemic crisis, also because of the lack of a path for reforms of the (national, European or global) democratic public organization. We reach the same conclusion by investigating Germany’s legal framework. Moreover, the situation of impasse of the European Stability Mechanism – or, said in another terms, the reluctance to ask for its action by the countries that are in difficulties (as they are intimidated by the conditionality that the German Federal Republic could impose while using its whole predominant weight that has been recognized by the Treaties) – complicates the task of the European Central Bank, that is the only supranational institution able to disturb speculators’ plan through a decision making process that – how it happens on 6th September 2012 – can disregard the approval of Germany. In conclusion, it remains the necessity to define new development trends of the European legal system, which currently is hard-fought between the methodological austerity of the public finance (as framed since the Maastricht Treaty) and the auspices of a subsidarian solidarism of the EU institutions (promoted by Mediterranean instances). Although this paper is the result of a joint reflection of the Authors, which wrote together the preamble and the conclusions, Valerio Lemma wrote the paragraphs 2, 4, 5, 8 e 9 and Ulrike Haider wrote the paragraphs 3, 6 e 7.