Group items tagged

Interesting to build off the article Sam posted previously on Merkel. Some of the initial buzz seems to have quieted down; however, the problem is still very real. Angela Merkel of Germany on Sunday explicitly linked accelerating Turkey's effort to join the European Union to Turkish cooperation in clamping down on the flow of refugees from Turkey to Europe.

This article explains why Chancellor Angela Merkel is in no hurry to fix the Euro crisis.

This, in conjunction with the article I just posted, seems to support the view that the Chancellor is attempting to use her government's short term ability to fix this problem to gain leverage for a larger, more overarching change to the EU. Like Brady said, she's trying to instill patience and austerity instead of rushing.

The chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel seems to be making a good move. Sadly, people will hate her for it. I support her though, because I believe that encouraging hyperinflation might make people feel better temporarily; however, it will only give companies more money without giving them the time to learn from their mistakes and make better financial decisions. Later, Europe may suffer even greater issues with debt. Yet, not doing anything either seems wrong. I'm sure she could do something.

The Turkish president has called on Turks abroad to show their support for his regime in response to the recently attempted coup. This has caused many German Turks to stage rallies, which in turn has caused some Germans to doubt their loyalty to German ideals such as democracy and liberalism.

Interesting article on the migration crisis. Germany torn over who and how many to take; it also seems that however many are taken will be compounded, as those granted asylum can bring their families over, too.

BERLIN - The top leaders of Germany and Italy plan to meet Wednesday as part of an intense round of shuttle diplomacy before several critical decisions that face Europe. The region's leaders are struggling to appease voters questioning the price of unity in the euro currency union after three years of financial turmoil.

I find European economics very fascinating, personally. Germany has been saving much of the Euro economy for three years since the economic crash began, but is not facing its own fiscal issues. In addition, the article discusses the actions of Italy's Prime Minister Mario Monti, who has been frantically attending meetings and important "coffees" with other European heads of states to prevent their country's growing national debt--already at 123% GDP!!!

What are Germany's own economic issues? It has seemed like the bulwark of Europe for the last five years! Are there things that are being ignored, e.g. migrant labor, cost of universal health insurance and old age pensions? Is Angela Merkel still popular? Who might succeed her? What are her party's politics?

Across Europe, and most particularly in Germany, the question resonates: Do humane policies toward desperate people who hope to start a new life in this prosperous country spur others to undertake the difficult and dangerous journey?

Seeing as how we just finished our discussions on the EU, this article is about Russia's request to formally participate in an EU committee. Russia wants to have more of a say in Europe, and Germany seems open to the idea (note that Germany is a major European ally for Russia). Medvedev, Merkel, and Sarkozy will soon meet up to discuss the idea. Germany carries a lot of influence in the EU, but I'm curious as to how the other member states truly feel about it.

Sorry, but I just have to make the distinction (with Larkin) that Russia isn't trying to join the EU, but rather requesting to participate in an EU committee. The summit that is occurring between the 3 leaders is about strengthening the EU-Russia relationship. The NY Times article I posted was about Russia trying to join the EU political and security committee. Now that the summit has occurred, here are some more recent articles about it. Hopefully they're more clear. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/19/world/europe/19iht-summit.html?src=twrhp http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2010-10/20/c_13565527.htm

To Larkin's comment: Yes, that is very interesting, as we learned in class some countries join the EU for the fiscal benefits or the security benefits; however, they must join the entire EU and that is when we said the benefits that a niation get from the EU should outweight the things that the EU will make the country take part in that they may not want to. It's sort of funny that Russia would try to avoid the EU only in some areas.

The article I referred to in class today. Says a lot about how Germany's state has/has not progressed since WWII.

Political instability is evident in France as the cabinet fell apart over questions regarding the financial crisis of France and the overall economic downslide of the euro over the last 5 years. The Prime Minister Manuel Vall called for the dissolvement of the cabinet after President Hallonde made changes to economic regulations based on the urges of the European Union, German leaders to be specific. The big question regarding the European economy is whether government budget cuts and deficit financing is more important or finding a way to get cash flowing and creating jobs for citizens is more important. Many of the nations of the eurozone initially bought into the policies of austerity policies that Angel Merkel, the German chancellor, advocated, but now they're pulling back their restrictions and some economic growth is occurring. France and Germany, the largest economies in Europe are at odds and France's shift towards the right-wing National Front. France, as a part of the European Union, has pressure to do follow orders and maintain relationships with other European powers rather than do what's exactly right for their citizens. Political instability of France, unemployment, budget cuts, and debt-financing.

France took big hits in WWI and WWII from human and economic standpoints, so following WWII they became big proponents of European integration to build from the ground up. The Franco-German alliance has been a key to the integration of European nations since the 90's, but more recently they have been at odds over the austerity policies regarding France's recent economic recession. The French push for integration is quite ironic given France has more than 26 regions with several territories from its colonial past still belonging to France. Even with a rather diverse population, the majority of the French government is quite centralized with very little devolution of power. The voting turnout has not been very high because average French citizens feel like the power is in the hands of only the French elite. The French social and governmental hierarchy dampens the democratic institutions of France. Furthermore, the French don't only have a strong centralized government, they also have a powerful military and the second largest economy in the eurozone. Though the French struck down the proposed constitution of the European Union in 2005, current socialist President Hollande remains faithful to the European Union and German Chancellor Angel Merkel.

Center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) narrowly defeated Chancellor Angela Markel's center-right Christian Democratic Party, officially marking the end of Merkel's 16 years of leadership. The narrow outcome means the SPD must collaborate with other parties to form the new government, a process that could take weeks, if not months, leaving Europe's largest democracy in a state of uncertainty. This election signals an end to an era for Germany, a longtime leader in Europe with Merkel at the helm.