The German Chancellor Friedrich Merz is clearly leading the European war party. It was the head of the German government who became Kiev's chief spokesperson and advocate for the continuation of the war in Ukraine. Against German politics, against all reasonable calculations.
More announcements and statements from the German Chancellor over the past fewer weeks attest to this. There is no uncertainty that in the event of the United States resigning from further arming the Armed Forces Ukraine's function as a key arms supplier will be taken over by the national Republic.
Patriots for Kiev
How says ‘Bild’, Merz is about to sign a secret agreement with the Americans, in which the types of weapons needed by the Ukrainian army are to be calculated. The strategy will be simple: Washington will sale arms to Germany, and these in turn will hand it over to Ukrainians. Actually, nothing new. At this point, it is known that the Germans will hand over the 2 Patriot sets from their own resources, which will later gotta complete orders overseas. This is simply a partial consequence to Zelenski's appeal made at the last summit in The Hague. Partial due to the fact that Kiev wanted as many as 7 sets of this kind, and the authorities of another European countries, specified as Greece or Poland, do not intend to share with Kiev equipment more and more deficit, and besides expensive.
Americans look at the agony calmly
In the programme pre-election declarations of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) Merza has been regularly assured that the European Union should build its own defence manufacture that makes it independent of Americans. A large part of European production would, of course, be utilized for Kiev. However, it turns out that specified a European self-sufficiency is very far away. A full scope of weapons manufacture on our continent simply cannot produce. It could take years to make and implement fresh technologies. The United States, on the another hand, is naturally curious in maintaining the Old Continent's dependence on each other. Therefore, any decision by Germany or another crucial EU associate States towards what Emmanuel Macron once referred to as ‘strategic autonomy’ as being met by Washington's sharp reaction. For the latter, the best script is to make Germany a low-tech country, with an outdated industry, aiming at ideas. Henry Morgenthau After planet War II, an economy based on agriculture.
The German social marketplace economy model ends
Most German commentators believe that Berlin's leading function in lobbying Kiev's interests is straight hitting the German edition of the welfare state, which was the attractiveness of Germany on a European scale for the full post-war decades. It is clear that the German budget is incapable to finance strong militarisation and weapons purchases at the same time and, on the another hand, to implement social programs promised by the ruling coalition during last year's electoral campaign.
Energy Disaster
One of the flagship slogans of the CDU and social democrats of the SPD present was the lowering of electricity prices, both for individual consumers and companies. Currently, the average price per kilowatt hr is almost 27 cents. Of course, prices vary and are mostly dependent on the place of residence/residence of the customer, the amount of energy consumed and the tariff holder. Under the German Green Deal, 53% of the generation of electricity originates in the national Republic from renewable sources, primarily wind turbines and solar batteries. So the production volume depends on weather conditions, and these are naturally variable. The average German household consumes between 1.5 and 4 000 kilowatt hours of electricity per year, of course depending on the number of members and electrical equipment. advanced request makes it increasingly essential to usage the conventional generation, coal and gas. This is all in a situation where 40% of the final electricity price is taxed. The prices were to fall as a consequence of the simplification of these taxes.
This will not happen, however, because, as the Ministry of Finance estimates, it would cost the national budget EUR 4.5 billion. There is simply no specified amount in the German budget. The simplification in energy taxation has so only been limited to selected customers: industrial plants and agricultural and forestry farms.
End of social policy?
Pre-election programmes besides included promises to increase pensions and social benefits (the 2 ruling parties yet formally advocate the social model of the marketplace economy). It was besides about benefits, specified as unemployment benefits and a series of unemployment benefits for the poorest social groups. Although the chapedics were more liberal, the SPD assured itself in the coalition agreement the impact on social policy and the implementation of specified points.
Awareness of the crisis is growing
There are more and more voices in the German political discussions that are not fraught with criticism of the actions of the current government. They besides sound from co-organising organization politicians. late on the air of the second public tv program ZDF Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia Hendrik Wüst statedthat energy prices are killing the German economy. In his opinion, a deep and comprehensive improvement is essential in this area, as all another solutions are selective and ineffective half measures. A peculiarly crucial simplification in electricity prices is for tiny and medium-sized enterprises, service companies and poorer German families. At the same time, Wüst argues that it is essential to cut the bureaucratic apparatus, but above all to reduce taxes.
In German media there are more and more voices from various social and professional groups that talk straight of losing assurance in the ruling black-and-red coalition. The increasing Moods of Protest noted More recently, Focus magazine, pointing to the discredit of the full political class. In the ruling coalition, interior conflicts begin to rise. Individual groups and even their factions accuse each another of causing a increasing economical crisis. This is starting to match the destiny of the erstwhile government coalition, which in akin circumstances fell apart and lost power.
The politicians of the CDU and the Bavarian Christian and Social Union (CSU) see this. In the Chadek ranks, as in the SPD, there are increasingly calls for normalisation of relations with Russia, especially in the context of imports of inexpensive Russian natural materials. The right in both fear groups is looking at the emergence in the numbers of Alternatives for Germany (AfD) and clearly wants to take over any of its demands. Merz himself is considered from the beginning to be a politician and a weak chancellor who was no longer able to pass the vote at the outset to the office of head of the national government.
Kulawy Merz
Merz lost support not only for German voters, but besides loses them in his immediate back. He deserved this with a series of terrible mistakes he made from the beginning of office. He began by announcing that he was going to deliver the long-range Taurus rocket to Ukraine, meaning he frightened the Germans with the possible of participating in the conflict. Recently, on the occasion of Israeli aggression against Iran, he told the public that Tel Aviv is performing for Europe ‘dirty work’. In addition, he announced the militarisation of the full German economy. Reaching the arms spending ceiling of 5% of GDP by 2035 means that all another issues will be subject to this militarisation, which will benefit only the industry. The German Chancellor has been granted the abolition of all existing safeguards against excessive public debt.
Debts Grow
And arms debt is another problem for all another sectors outside the military-industrial complex. It's besides essential to rise taxes. With these increases, for example, it turned out late that prices for gas and mazut increased by 30%. At household level, it turns out that, as the Bundesbank says, real purchasing power has fallen by 20% since 2021. The Germans are mediocre in their eyes.
In addition, Germany is faced with problems that are about to deepen. For example, the intention is to ban the sale of vehicles with combustion engines, which will be a striking blow to the erstwhile pride of the German automotive industry. The zealously introduced by Merz Green Deal will simultaneously consequence in drastic increases in heating prices, which first involves the imposition of draconian charges on the heat generation from gas and mazutu. So everyone – and companies, and average citizens will get hit.
Green nail to political coffin
The Green Deal was never the domain of chadecy or centreright. This is not the case with Friedrich Merz and the CDU under his direction. The Chancellor stated that it was a real plan to completely abandon greenhouse gas emissions by 2045. The dry thread is not left on it by experts, especially economists. Jan Schellenbach In conversation with the ‘Bild’ diary stated that "if these provisions are included in the Basic Act, the national Constitutional Court may block any investment which will slow economical growth". He's a prof. of constitutional law. Josef Lindner: "To add specified circumstantial policy objectives to the Basic Act will lead to a series of tough restrictions with possibly disastrous consequences for the economy".
Merz insists on his own. He declares that Germany will spend as much as EUR 500 billion on the Green Deal over the next 12 years. It is not very clear where he will get this amount, given the means he plans to spend on reinforcing and supporting the war in Ukraine. But that may not be his concern. For so many years as Chancellor, he will not survive.
Mateusz Piskorski
