German elections: this danger that awaits us

Posted on Sep 21, 2021 at 6:18 amUpdated Sep 21, 2021, 7:12 AM

We might as well admit it: the German elections do not really fascinate the crowds. They don’t know how much their future depends on it. The next chancellor will play a decisive role in the way in which Europe will stay, or not, at the table of the great. He will also decide on the largesse with which we can spend public money – in other words on our way of life. Emmanuel Macron has no real crush, nor any real aversion for the two men in the running: Ola Scholz, who is favored by the polls, would be his best budgetary ally. Despite surprisingly orthodox remarks last week – intended to seduce the liberals – he seems ready to perpetuate the principle of common debt across Europe and to review the stability pact. But he is fiercely opposed to nuclear power, and therefore to the French credo which wants to make it a central element of the European ecological transition.

Armin Laschet has other assets: he is, of all the candidates, the most convinced of the importance of developing European defense outside NATO. It is the only one to demand an increase in military spending to the tune of 2% of the GDP. But it is also, as a good successor to Angela Merkel, the best ambassador of German industry, which jeopardizes our chances of developing a common response to China.

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