Germany's uncomfortable role as Europe's 'economic police'
| Paris
Americans took a leading role in the world in the post-World War II era. And today they are used to being unpopular, yet called upon when needed.
Germans in the postwar era, on the other hand, have preferred to blend into the background.
But amid Europe's sovereign debt crisis, as Germany's healthy economy has put it at the head of the 27-member European Union, that's been proving impossible. And now Germans are dealing with the criticism that accompanies being a regional 鈥� if unwilling 鈥� hegemon.
While a recent Pew poll shows Germany to be considered by many countries to be the most trustworthy nation in Europe, it has also accrued new enemies far and wide, with Greeks burning German flags or picketing with signs of German Chancellor Angela Merkel dressed in Nazi uniform. There have even been聽claims from France that Germans are out to rule the Continent.
鈥淲e have made a lot of commitment to help those people,鈥� says Markus, a musical theater stage producer, in Berlin鈥檚 Alexanderplatz, a public square and major transportation hub in Germany鈥檚 capital Berlin. 鈥淚t鈥檚 really unfair.鈥�
It鈥檚 also untrue 鈥� at least the part about Germany wanting continental dominion, say German and European observers. Instead, the avoidance of tough positions in foreign policy, so Germany is not led into a moral dilemma, is ingrained in the postwar mentality, they say.
鈥淭here is no appetite for domination. Germany has been pushed into this position by default,鈥� says Jan Techau, director of Carnegie Europe in Brussels for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. 鈥淭here is no ambition to shape the continent in the image of Germany.鈥�
鈥淕ermans want to be liked by the rest of the world,鈥� says Michael Wohlgemuth, director of Open Europe Berlin. 鈥淕ermany feels uneasy in its new powerful role. We don鈥檛 want to be leaders of Europe.鈥�
Outside the US embassy in Berlin, Erkan Arikan says that Germany is being unfairly maligned in Europe. But he says he can also laugh it off, as a German of Turkish descent in a multicultural Germany that has nothing to do with the 1930s.
He says that he can see some parallels between the hegemonic positions of Germany and the US today, but there is a limit. 鈥淭he US is still the world police for everyone; Germany doesn鈥檛 want to be the focus,鈥� he says. 鈥淏ut maybe it鈥檚 becoming the economic police of Europe.鈥�
It鈥檚 a role that many Germans might feel uncomfortable playing, especially with the bad will that can breed.
If Americans don鈥檛 like the term 鈥渦gly American,鈥� Germans like it even less.
Ulrike Gu茅rot of the European Council of Foreign Relations says when she travels around the country and talks to everyday Germans, they are starting to ask, 鈥淎re we responsible for this youth unemployment in Spain? There is an uneasiness they they are just starting to feel,鈥� she says. 鈥淭hey don鈥檛 want to be the 鈥榰gly German.鈥欌��
