A split Europe: Merkel’s divide between politics and economy

Europe’s leading decision-maker, Germany, has persuaded Hungary and Poland to compromise on the rule-of-law sanctions which in turn cleared a huge roadblock ahead of the European Union’s emergency COVID-19 aid contributing to the possibility of the advancement of other pressing matters, but the story is a bit more complex.

According to Politico, although it was Merkel who is due credit for resolving the issue, she is also the one responsible for it in the first place. According to the news outlet, Merkel quietly sat through Viktor Orbán’s and Jarosław Kaczyński’s road to dismantling their respective countries’ democracies.

Merkel, or in other words, Europe’s de facto leader, tried to quietly solve the issues at hand, but with time, it was evident that this political method of patience and tolerance needed to change and tackling the issues needed a different approach, something other than Merkel’s typical behind-the-scenes diplomacy. According to Politico, Angela Merkel’s passivity “[drove] a new wedge between the Western and Eastern halves of the bloc and fanning nationalist flames”. The relations between Germany and Poland have also greatly suffered as Warsaw refused to approve Germany’s new ambassador to Poland. In the end, Poland gave way, but that was a symbolic stab at Germany reminding it of its history. Warsaw accepted the appointed ambassador on September 1, the anniversary of the 1939 German occupation of Poland. Politico highlighted that

“it is difficult to avoid the war when it comes to Germany’s relations with Central and Eastern Europe […] that is one of the main reasons Merkel tread lightly in the face of Hungary and Poland’s rule-of-law abuses”.

There is also an important, non-political factor that – although not secret at all – goes behind the decision-making storefront of Brussels, which is economic interdependence between the countries in question. So, another, and the probably more straightforward, reason behind Merkel’s political stance towards Hungary and Poland is the business sector of Germany. For the past 30 years, Germany has invested great sums of money in Central and Eastern European countries – 30 billion euros just in Poland. The Volkswagen Group and Daimler Group are huge names, but it is true for smaller companies as well. Many invest in these two countries, for example, Mercedes invests 141 million to make fully-EV cars in Hungary.

Such a deep and intertwined economic relationship cannot just be disregarded even in politics on either side.

This is the main reason behind Germany’s and, with it, the European Union’s supposed toleration of Hungarian and Polish measures in their domestic policies. Recently, even the EPP suspended Deutsch’s speaking rights (FIDESZ’s representative) and barred the politician from holding formal positions in the EPP.

“Merkel would postpone [the vote] until eternity,” one German MEP said to Politico.

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Source: Politico.eu