"I said, yet again, for Germany, Europe is not only indispensable, it is part and parcel of our identity. We've always said German unity, European unity and integration, that's two parts of one and the same coin. But we want, obviously, to boost our competitiveness"
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Merkel is doing what she did best: turning a potentially combustible argument about power into a statement of civic duty. By insisting that Europe is "part and parcel of our identity", she isn’t reaching for sentiment; she’s building a guardrail. German leadership in Europe is always haunted by history, so she frames integration not as a tactical choice but as a constitutive fact. "German unity, European unity" becomes a rhetorical fuse: if you accept one, you’re meant to accept the other. The coin metaphor is simple on purpose, almost domestic. It flattens ideological conflict into common sense, making dissent look like a category error rather than a legitimate political position.
The repeated "we’ve always said" is quiet power. It implies continuity, inevitability, a consensus older than the current crisis. Merkel’s political art often lay in presenting contingency as tradition: the future as an extension of what responsible people have already agreed to.
Then she pivots: "But we want, obviously, to boost our competitiveness". That "obviously" is doing heavy lifting. It smuggles economic discipline into a speech about identity, translating European solidarity into a language markets and voters recognize. In the post-euro-crisis, post-enlargement Europe, this is Merkel’s core bargain: Germany ties itself to Europe to legitimate its influence, while Europe adopts a competitiveness agenda that sounds pragmatic but carries real distributional consequences. Integration, here, is both moral alibi and economic program.
The repeated "we’ve always said" is quiet power. It implies continuity, inevitability, a consensus older than the current crisis. Merkel’s political art often lay in presenting contingency as tradition: the future as an extension of what responsible people have already agreed to.
Then she pivots: "But we want, obviously, to boost our competitiveness". That "obviously" is doing heavy lifting. It smuggles economic discipline into a speech about identity, translating European solidarity into a language markets and voters recognize. In the post-euro-crisis, post-enlargement Europe, this is Merkel’s core bargain: Germany ties itself to Europe to legitimate its influence, while Europe adopts a competitiveness agenda that sounds pragmatic but carries real distributional consequences. Integration, here, is both moral alibi and economic program.
Quote Details
| Topic | Vision & Strategy |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
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