(ORDO NEWS) — Angela Merkel is hailed by many as practically the ideal leader of Europe. But the author of an article in a Norwegian newspaper is convinced that Merkel is not just over-praised – her time has become a real disaster for the EU. For Merkel, the tactic of waiting and delaying is characteristic. She lacks vision and the will to act, reports Aftenbladet.no, Norway.
Ijust want to rub my eyes. Ten years ago, the entire eurozone was on the verge of collapse, as it was unable to help little Greece to cope with the financial crisis. And now the European Commission is traveling around Europe and wasting money.
And this is not a penny. For the “next generation of the EU,” as the plan is called, there are several transition funds. They target green and digital change, investment in small and medium-sized companies, reducing youth unemployment and increasing health security. But we are not talking about a return to the pre-pandemic level.
The recovery budget is a whopping 740 billion euros – 350 billion in loans and 390 billion in grants. Others will argue that the EU has adopted the recovery plan only because the UK withdrew from the union. Well, not only Great Britain was a brake, but also other countries in the north of Europe, and Angela Merkel’s Germany.
Merkel was praised by many as a leader, but she was a disaster for the EU. It was characterized by the tactics of waiting and delaying to the last. She lacked vision and the will to act. During the eurozone crisis, it refused to issue EU bonds. The euro was saved by the head of the European Central Bank, Mario Draghi, who said that everything necessary must be done. And Merkel worked on the national economy as if it were household bills.
Yes, her response to the 2015 migration crisis deserves respect, but it was a one-man decision taken without consultation with other EU countries.
Overpriced
As many analysts now write, Angela Merkel is a highly overrated leader. It shut down German nuclear power plants and made Germany dependent on gas from Putin’s Russia. She supported the climate goals, but failed to make them a reality. The country is stagnant, it maintains the status quo, and its leaders only get to the bottom of things in cases of extreme necessity. And Merkel practically forcibly imposed a plan to restore the economy on everyone.
Merkel did not manipulate votes on important issues, but acted within the framework of the traditional majority. Of course, Poland and Hungary, whose leaders belong to the same party grouping as Merkel, continued to violate the principles of the Treaty on the European Union. The driving forces of the process launched against these countries were the European Commission and the European Parliament. Not Merkel, but the Prime Minister of the Netherlands Mark Rutte (Mark Rutte) uttered the winged words that Hungary is not the EU.
However, it is very unfortunate that the European Union, which is based on the idea of equality of countries and their citizens, ended up in the hands of the leaders of Germany and France.
Probably the next generation of the EU will mean something new? At the last summit, the Baltic states opposed the proposal of Merkel and Macron to resume negotiations with Russia. And the European Parliament froze the investment plan with China, which Merkel approved.
Benefits, but not burdens
Another circumstance that requires action is the parasites parasitizing on the created public goods. Some, having received the euro, are pursuing irresponsible credit policies that affect other countries. Others issue EU passports to Russian billionaires. Many want to have access to the European internal market, but not to shoulder the burden.
Some are acting like a clean offshore zone. Now the EU seems to have finally decided, with the support of the new US administration, to tax international companies. Global minimum taxation will end tax rivalries between countries. This will hit, for example, Luxembourg and Ireland, which have become rich and popular thanks to low taxes for tech giants.
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