Berlin has changed the tempo. And Europe contains its breath. Friedrich Merz yesterday took control of Germany. Chosen for Forceps, but with a clear plan: accelerate. Brutally. Exit Scholz Slowness, a good discreet student, lukewarm, invisible strategist. Place in Merz, assumed liberal, pro-negocio, pro-Europe.
And Paris turns on. Finally, a chancellor who speaks our language, that of mass investment. Merz promises to be “a very European chancellor.” And he leaves very fast.
In a few weeks, it established an Express Coalition of Red Black-Rred. Where we were waiting for six months, he doubled the game in six weeks. Better yet: the brake on debt exploded. 1,000 billion bazucas. Voted even before their enthronement. February 23: Chosen. In early May: Germany changed software.
It is a political and economic earthquake. A true “change of play”: for once, the expression is not used in excess.
What changes specifically for Europe? For us French?
For 20 years, Berlin has shielded his competitiveness … on our back. Public sub -infversions in Germany, public debt in France. The agreement was clear: we consume, export.
Today, the script is reversed. Berlin recovery. At high speed. On a very large scale, Europe could well be at a historical balancing point. Because if Germany enters recovery mode, the entire euro zone must continue. And quickly.
On the French side, plus the right to dodge. Yesterday’s German model is now on us to adopt it. Labor reforms, social model, public accounts. What the Germans did in 2003, we never dared.
In 2007: Our debts were tied, 60%. Twenty years later: 50 points away. It is there, our economic wall of Berlin.
In Bercy, the tone has changed: France said “no” to the grouping of European debt. Paradox? Not so much. We have campaigned for common debt for 15 years. And now that Berlin offers it … it is we who stop.
Europe turns around. France should not miss the turn. A warning anyway! Merz can have the Franco-German reflection at the moment … but he is still a German politician in the German political system that has just sent him a severe warning by rejecting his choice in the first round.
Source: BFM TV
