Watch Germany!

Watch Germany!
By Ron Fraser

September 7, 2009

September is jam-packed with events of significance to observers of Germany’s rise to global power.

A week ago, both candidates for the chancellorship, incumbent Chancellor Angela Merkel and Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, received a shock. The largely state-controlled media had been singing a song of praise to Merkel, claiming that she was a shoo-in for regaining the chancellorship following the upcoming September 27 federal elections. But last weekend, both candidates lost support following state elections in Saxony, Thuringia and Saar. All polled increases in the vote for minority parties, with Merkel’s Christian Democrats and Steinmeier’s Social Democrats losing support in the process.

On Tuesday, Time commented (emphasis mine),

Now German politics is no longer dominated by the two big parties—the Christian Democrats and the Social Democrats—with the kind of stable two-party coalitions that were typical of West Germany. The political game is much more open, with at least five parties vying for power and reflecting the much broader spectrum of political opinion in the population. This seemingly unstable coalition system is the new normal. … According to opinion polls, Chancellor Angela Merkel seemed to be coasting to victory in September—but now the race seems more uncertain than ever. Her cdu party lost its absolute majority in Thuringia and Saar and may lose power altogether to three-party left-leaning coalitions in those states. In Saxony, the cdu and fdp [Free Democratic Party] govern together and were reelected—but for the first time in a German state parliament, a neo-Nazi party, the npd, kept its seats.

With the September 27 federal election now wide open, the left-wing daily Tageszeitung observed, “The only thing that is certain is that nothing is certain” (August 31).

For some time the Trumpet has been monitoring the run-up to this important German election. We have done so fully expecting a result at odds with the predictions of the pundits, who had confidently said Angela Merkel would win in a trot. All of a sudden, barely a month away from the election, the whole complexion of the scenario is changing. This German election could turn on a dime.

That one or more of the larger parties must figure in a coalition government is a given. Yet which one of the major parties will be the one casting around to cobble together Germany’s next governing coalition is anyone’s guess at this juncture, just as much as is the question of which minority parties will be included.

There’s no doubt that the global financial crisis will have significant influence on how people vote. Yet two burning issues could weigh heavily on the outcome, should certain influential German elites play their cards right.

To read current German politics, one must read European energy politics.

To read Germany’s longer-term political vision, one must read the history of Imperial Germany.

Dealing with the question of energy politics, one must ask, why are ex-Chancellor Gerhard Schröder and his ex-foreign minister, Joshka Fischer, embedded as senior executives in major Russian gas pipeline projects? There’s more to this than meets the eye.

Schröder and Fischer are part of a veritable rogues gallery of German leaders who carry significant behind-the-scenes influence on German elites, in particular within the institutions that are most influential in the German bureaucracy, banking and big business.

Schröder, Fischer, the current German foreign minister, Steinmeier, and his party deputy, Franz Muntefering, all form a formidable force behind the scenes in German politics. This is more so the case when one considers that they each have a cozy relationship with Russia’s Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, with whom Chancellor Merkel has been particularly at odds during her term as Germany’s leader.

These four form a powerful cabal of resistance to Chancellor Merkel in her drive to retain the leadership in Germany. Given the right publicity, if Steinmeier chooses to play the energy card in a manner that convinces the public that his connections would more strongly mitigate any further threat of a winter freeze due to Russia turning off the gas tap to Europe—as has happened thrice in the past—he could quickly make up for his present lagging poll ratings.

Both Steinmeier and Putin hail from their respective nations’ spy networks, Steinmeier having headed Germany’s BND for the Schröder government and Putin being an ex-KGB agent. Steinmeier’s clandestine connections give him powerful unseen political clout of a nature not possessed by Chancellor Merkel. Polls notwithstanding, the uncharismatic Steinmeier may still give his boss a good challenge should he elect to press the right energy buttons.

But it is in considering the question of Germany’s long-term vision that we depart from most observers of the present political scene in Germany. Here we have to look to the German elites who have held this vision for generations, and passed it on through the gentlemen’s club of the German/Austrian hierarchy. These individuals have sought by various means over the past century—primarily financial, trade and the economy, then ultimately by military force—to bring their dream of European hegemony, if not global dominance, into being.

Recently our representatives in the United Kingdom interviewed Edward Spalton, chairman of the Euroskeptic group Campaign for an Independent Britain. Mr. Spalton is one of a number of Euroskeptics with whom we have had an association over the years. He and other Euroskeptic activists such as Rodney Atkinson, the late Norris McWhirter, Adrian Hilton and Britain’s oldest active member of the Conservative Party, Harry Beckough, have been deeply concerned at the political road being taken by Germany.

In response to the question, “Is Germany’s increasing assertiveness in dominating EU politics a result of deliberate intent or happenstance?”, Mr. Spalton responded:

Well, I think you only need to consult General De Gaulle on that, because when he met Dr. Hallstein, who was the first president of the EU Commission, he said, “If Dr. Hallstein is a sincere European, it is because he is first and foremost an ambitious German.” And then he went on to elaborate how through the EU, Germany would first of all rehabilitate itself in the eyes of other European countries, would gather together a constellation of other European powers who would assist Germany in regaining its unity. And indeed, that has come to pass.

And it has come to pass exactly as that wily old German politician of another generation, the Bavarian Franz Joseph Strauss, outlined it should in his book The Grand Design.

Elaborating on the long-term imperial vision that has dominated German politics over the past two centuries, Edward Spalton continued:

We have to remember that the idea of a common market, a customs union, was actually the way that Germany itself came into being, and as long ago as the 1830s and ’40s when Germany was still divided up into a large number of small states, there were economists and politicians who were clamoring to remove the customs barriers between the grand duchy of this and the elector of that so that the German economy could develop. … So, they did see the development of the common market, the EEC, very much in the same way as the history of the development of Germany itself as a political entity.

This is history of which the general public in the Anglo-Saxon nations remains largely ignorant and certainly quite disinterested, most particularly in the U.S. Yet it is a history that is about to slam the Anglo-Saxons smack in the face. A very few of the most astute observers of Germany see it, and given the history, fear the outcome of the political, economic and military direction that Germany is increasingly and assertively taking. But few there be indeed who can see the clear vision of biblical revelation which declares that the nation of Germany is rapidly returning to head up a final resurrection of the “Holy” Roman Empire.

Current German politics are leading very directly to that outcome, believe it or not!

You need to watch Germany. Most particularly you need to watch Germany over the next two months. A concentration of high-powered events that will convene in September may well consummate by the end of October in the consolidation of Germanic power at the head of the greatest single trading and political entity in the world.

To follow this trend, watch the outcome of each of the following events:

September

2: EU finance ministers meet in Brussels with central bankers to firm up a unified proposal for global regulation in preparation for mounting a solid unity bloc at G-2O summit.

4: EU foreign ministers meet in Strasbourg to discuss common defense and security policy and EU military involvement globally.

4-5: G-20 finance ministers and central bankers meet in London to discuss the global economic and financial crisis.

8: The Lisbon Treaty bill gets its second reading in the Bundestag.

15: The UN General Assembly meets under President Obama as rotating president of the Security Council for this month—to consider Middle East peace process.

17: The EU convenes an “extraordinary” heads of state meeting in Brussels to establish a unified position to address the upcoming G-20 summit.

18: The Bundesrat is scheduled to approve the Lisbon Treaty.

24-25: The G-20 holds a summit in Pittsburgh.

27: Germany holds federal elections.

October

2: Ireland votes on the Lisbon Treaty.

29-30: The EU Council meets to choose who will fill the two new and most senior posts in the EU, created by the Lisbon Treaty: minister of foreign affairs and president of the European Union.

To prepare you to understand the outcome of each of these events, how they impact on each other and what this all means for the future, read the current edition of the Trumpet magazine together with our booklet Daniel Unlocks Revelation. They will give you a perspective on events developing in Europe that will soon impact every nation on Earth!

But they will give you even more than that. They will give you a vision of real hope—not the sham, false hope promised by today’s political leaders, but what your Bible calls the “more sure word of prophecy” (2 Peter 1:19). That is real and sure hope in the future ahead! •

Ron Fraser’s column appears every Monday.
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Previous columns by this author:

• Who’s Sorry Now?
• America the Corrupt
• Germany—Military Empowerment by Stealth

Why Europe Is Furious With Germany

Brad Macdonald Columnist

Why Europe Is Furious With Germany
December 18, 2008 From theTrumpet.com
Germany is stonewalling attempts to rescue Europe’s collapsing economies. What is Berlin’s motivation?


Boneheaded.

That’s how Paul Krugman, this year’s distinguished Nobel Prize laureate for economics, defined Germany’s response to Europe’s financial crises. Krugman is part of a vast chorus of economic gurus, journalists and politicians disgusted and enraged at Berlin.

“For the first time in my life, I am starting to feel twinges of anti-German sentiment,” Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, international business editor for the Daily Telegraph, wrote on Monday. “[E]ven Teutophiles who think that Germany has played an enlightened role for 60 years are losing patience with the antics of the finance ministry and Bundesbank, and with the DICTATORIAL TURN in Berlin’s EU strategy” (emphasis mine throughout).

European politicians are similarly enraged.

“France is working on it and Germany is thinking about it,” French President Nicolas Sarkozy jabbed recently in reference to Berlin’s sloth-like approach to solving Europe’s economic crisis. German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s habit of shooting down rescue efforts for Europe’s crashing economies has earned her the nickname Madame Non in France; in Britain, Frau Nein.

Across Europe, the impression is that Germany is fiddling while the Continent is burning.

Britain’s frustration with Berlin boiled over early last week when, ahead of Thursday’s EU summit in Brussels, Prime Minister Gordon Brown snubbed Merkel and invited only Sarkozy and José Manuel Barroso to London for pre-summit economic discussions. Press releases that claimed the snub was unintentional and denied reports of a rift in the EU were taken with a grain of salt. As Spiegel Online reported Thursday of last week, “Growing annoyance with Germany inside the European Union had hardly been the best kept secret in recent weeks.”

What’s going on? Why is nearly every European state furious at Berlin? More importantly, why is Germany stonewalling Europe’s rescue efforts? What does Germany expect to gain by infuriating its neighbors and isolating itself from the rest of Europe?

Europe’s economic chaos has received sparse coverage in America. That’s understandable: It’s hard to pay attention to the house burning across the street when your own house is going up in flames. Nevertheless, the economic fires roasting Europe’s economies are as deadly as those ravaging America’s economic house. In December, Europe’s manufacturing and service industries contracted at the fastest pace in a decade or more. Payrolls are falling. Consumer and executive confidence dropped last month to the lowest level in 15 years. Industrial production plummeted the most since 1993. Half of EU member states are running budget deficits; most others are right on the fence, and quickly eating into surpluses. Social unrest is now a reality, and the recent riots in Greece are fundamentally a result of Greece’s bankrupt economy and the government’s inability to solve its financial troubles. The Greeks are not alone; with recession striking Continent-wide, similar economy-precipitated crises are smoldering, particularly in Spain, Portugal and Eastern Europe.

Europe’s leaders are alarmed and scrambling to douse the flames. The problem lies with someone who is stalling these rescue efforts. Europe’s largest, most influential and best-positioned national economy disagrees with how its counterparts—particularly France and Britain, in addition to the European Commission—plan to put out the fires.

While London, Paris and Brussels seek the flamboyant American-style quick-fix, billion-dollar-bailout/stimulus-package approach, Berlin views that as reactionary and potentially dangerous. Instead of further rupturing national budgets by borrowing billions and haphazardly throwing money at the problem, Germany believes the bona fide solution lies in sound, cautious fiscal management that will solve the root cause of the problem.

“At a time when the global benchmark for decisive leadership boils down to the number of zeros that are attached to economic stimulus packages,” reported the New York Times Tuesday, “Germany has taken a different path.” Chancellor Merkel highlighted that path during a recent speech in the German region of Swabia, where she “lambasted the bailout mentality gripping Western leaders and lauded financial discipline, balanced budgets and the ethic of thrift …” (Washington Times, December 14). Every Swabian housewife knows the root cause of this crisis, she said: “You can’t keep on living beyond your means. … We are not going to participate in this senseless race for billions. We have to have the courage to swim against the tide.” Merkel was insinuating that German housewives know more about the cause of the economic crises than some European leaders.

Talk about bold.

Recently, Germany’s feisty finance minister, Peer Steinbrück, set off sparks during an interview with Newsweek. When asked what was wrong with the stimulus proposals being bandied about by Europe’s leaders, Steinbrück denounced the plans and said that the “speed at which proposals are put together under pressure that don’t even pass an economic test is breathtaking and depressing.” That was before the EU summit in Brussels where Europe’s leaders agreed to ignore EU rules limiting government borrowing and debt and decided to inject €200 billion, or 1.5 percent of the bloc’s gross domestic product, into European economies to bolster growth.

During the interview, Steinbrück specifically excoriated Britain for a recent tax cut: “Our British friends are now cutting their value-added tax,” he said. “We have no idea how much of that stores will pass on to customers. Are you really going to buy a DVD player because it now costs £39.10 instead of £39.90? All this will do is raise Britain’s debt to a level that will take a whole generation to work off.” Steinbrück called Britain’s efforts to kick-start its economy “crass Keynesianism,” in reference to the famous British economist who believed nations should spend their way out of recession.

Experts say that the German finance minister’s caustic swipe, aside from sparking outrage in Britain and being undiplomatic and divisive, also undermined the British pound and was designed to sap global confidence in the British government and economy. “The recession [in Britain] looks to be deeper than predicted,” wrote Philip Stephens in the Financial Times. He added,

[T]he last thing Mr. Brown’s government needs is a further weakening of confidence in sterling assets among international investors. IT SCARCELY HELPS TO HAVE GERMANY'S FINANCE MINISTER DECLARE THAT BRITAIN'S STRATEGY AMOUNTS TO "CRASS KEYNESIANISM." … [The danger] has always been that international investors—in British government bonds, in particular—will take fright. MR. STEINBRUCK SEEMS TO BE EGGING THEM ON IN THAT DIRECTION.

Were Steinbrück’s remarks a direct attack on one of Germany’s largest competitors in the European Union? Of course they were! Why? Because, as Evans-Pritchard put it on Monday, there has been a “DICTATORIAL turn in Berlin’s EU strategy.”

“[Y]ou can’t have a coordinated European effort if Europe’s biggest economy not only refuses to go along, but heaps scorn on its neighbors’ attempts to contain the crisis,” writes Paul Krugman.

Let’s not misunderstand. It’s not that Germany is not unwilling to deal with the economic chaos. Berlin has already passed a $31 billion economic package of its own—while still managing to balance its budget—and announced earlier this week that it is considering another stimulus package, to be released after the inauguration of Barack Obama. Over the past few days especially, it seems the Continent-wide uproar has caused Berlin to slightly soften its opposition to the let’s-slash-interest-rates-and-taxes, leverage-ourselves-to-the-hilt-and-pump-piles-of-money-into-our-economies approach to Europe’s economic crises.

Despite its relative softening, however, the German government still doesn’t believe that slashing taxes or handing out vouchers to promote spending are the primary solutions. Earlier this week, Merkel said that any stimulus package put forward will largely involve injecting money into the German economy by tackling infrastructure projects and promoting public works. Germany remains staunch in its refusal to bankrupt itself by injecting money into the failed economies of other European states.

But not everyone is furious at Berlin. Fiscal conservatives are praising Germany for its sound economic reasoning. “Germany is seemingly in good shape to weather the downturn,” wrote the Washington Times on Sunday, and is “in a better position than other nations such as the UK, Spain, Italy and France, for example, which have strained their budgets in attempting to stimulate the economy.” The Times concluded:

In the headlong rush to find an economic panacea, Mrs. Merkel is among few Western leaders keeping a cool head. As the EU moves forward on the Eastern Partnership and other platforms, she must continue to stand firm against the pressure to leverage Germany’s—and Europe’s—future with government bailout schemes.

It seems that Germany is giving the world a lesson in how it believes economic crisis ought to be handled! But we ought to dig a bit deeper to discern the true motives behind the German government’s resistance to the general stance of the rest of the EU on priming the pump of the European economies.

When it comes to economic management, the Germans are nearly the opposite of profligate Americans and some of their European counterparts. Where Americans want to spend their way out of a crisis, Germany prefers to save its way out. In general, the German national character is among the most thrifty, efficient and hard-working in the world. That’s partly why the German government abhors ridiculous spending and massive deficits. Even now, for example, Germany has a current account surplus of 7 percent of its GDP.

The prudent and thrifty national character of the German people is surely a reason for Germany’s fervent opposition to Europe’s rescue plan. But it’s not the PRIMARY REASON!

History shows that Germany has a frightening tendency to exploit a crisis. In fact, as British political commentator Rodney Atkinson once told the Trumpet, “THE GERMAN IS EXPERT IN CREATING A CRISIS, THEN POSING THE SOLUTION, WITH AN OUTCOME DESIGNED TO FURTHER HIS OWN ENDS.”

That’s what is now occurring in Europe!

Berlin’s stalling tactics are intensifying Europe’s economic crises. Europe-wide cooperation is essential if Europe’s bailouts and stimulus packages are to work. “[I]f Germany, the largest economy, refuses to go along,” Krugman said in an interview with Spiegel, “there will be no cooperation. EVENTS HAVE GIVEN GERMANY A STRATEGIC POLICY IMPORTANCE DISPROPORTIONATE TO ITS SIZE.”

This is a time-tested principle of European politics: GERMANY IS CREATING A CRISIS WITH THE INTENTION OF POSING A SOLUTION THAT WILL FURTHER ITS OWN ENDS! By hijacking Europe’s plans to rescue its economies, Germany is essentially DICTATING EUROPEAN ECONOMIC POLICY! Of course Berlin realizes it is infuriating its European neighbors. That doesn’t matter to it, because at the end of the day, whether European states like Berlin or not, this financial crisis will cause Europe to increasingly look to and rely on Germany as the savior of Europe!

Watch Germany. Watch Europe. Berlin’s strategy to establish itself as the leader of Europe is well underway—AND THERE'S PLENTY MORE GROUND TO COVER! To properly understand what’s going on in Germany and in Europe, we must not only set our gaze on current events happening on the Continent, we must also set our minds on both history and Bible prophecy. This is what Christ meant when He said in Luke 21, “Watch and pray.” Watching world events will not save a person from the impending disaster. Our watching must be done in the context of urgent prayer and in-depth Bible study.

Actually, effective watching—that which leads a person to being so moved by the danger of the times in which he lives that he feels impelled to seek after God—is a function of prayer and how well a person knows the Bible and God’s prophecies regarding end-time events. To truly understand what’s happening in Europe, one must understand Germany in history and prophecy. If this subject genuinely interests you, it’s critical you read, in this order, The United States and Britain in Prophecy, Germany and the Holy Roman Empire and Who or What Is the Prophetic Beast? •

************

Can the leopard change its spots?

Is Germany in Danger of Backsliding?
Germany Behind the Mask
The EU is a German Ruse
Germany's Fourth Reich Spreads Its Wings Over the World
The Intelligence Summit Misses the Mark: the German-Jesuit Threat to World Peace
Will The Atlantic Times address the German threat?

Open Europe press summary: 21 October 2008

Europe

EU Scrutiny Committee says Lisbon Treaty will do little to improve national parliaments' powers;
Andrew Duff: those involved in drafting the Lisbon Treaty's subsidiarity clause knew that it "was not really intended to be used"
The cross-party Commons European Scrutiny Committee has today published a report on "Subsidiarity, National Parliaments and the Lisbon Treaty." The committee concludes that "we doubt whether the Lisbon Treaty's new subsidiarity provisions about the role of national parliaments would make much practical difference to the influence presently enjoyed by the UK Parliament", and says, "we doubt the significance of the 'greater opportunities' for national parliaments to be involved in any meaningful manner in the workings of the EU."

The Committee notes that "if national parliaments trigger the yellow or orange card procedures, the decision on whether a proposal is compatible with subsidiarity will continue to rest with the EU institutions." It also notes that, "There may in future be proposals where it might be difficult to deny that collective action by the EU would be the most effective way to achieve a Treaty objective, but where a national parliament would strenuously object to the proposal because it infringes national sovereignty. If a proposal were objectionable on grounds of sovereignty alone, neither the yellow nor the orange card procedures would be available to national parliaments."

The report quotes Andrew Duff MEP, who told the Committee: "there is a danger that, in assessing the Treaty of Lisbon, national parliaments become obsessed by the early warning mechanism on subsidiarity. It was understood by those of us involved in its drafting and, then re-drafting that the mechanism, although a necessary addition to the system of governance of the Union, was not really intended to be used. It is, in Bagehot's terms, more a dignified part of the European constitutional settlement than an efficient one." Richard Corbett MEP also told the Committee: "in practice, I do not think that the 'yellow' and 'orange' card mechanisms will be extensively used."
Press release

EU climate package talks deadlocked as Germany voices concerns
Point Carbon reports that talks between environment ministers from 27 EU member states were deadlocked yesterday, as some member states held out for major revisions to the bloc's energy and climate package.

Italy's Environment Minister Stefania Prestigiacomo is quoted by AFP as saying "The package as it stands right now is not suitable. It is untenable. Significant changes are needed."

Le Figaro notes that Germany has joined the ranks of countries holding serious reservations over the package, asking for swathes of industry to be given exemptions from having to pay for carbon permits - such as steel and cement. Austria is also said to back special conditions for energy intensive industries. The BBC notes that Germany and other countries have expressed "fears about 'carbon leakage' - the possibility of European industries moving to countries where there is little or no restriction on emitting CO2."

There is still uncertainty over the costs of the package. Rome says the plan would cost its economy around 25 billion euros each year, although the European Commission puts the figure at between 9 and 12 billion euros. Open Europe's estimate for the cost to Italy is in a similar range to that of the Commission, but does not include new electricity grid connection costs (likely to be substantial), or the knock-on effects of carbon leakage.

Italian Europe Minister Andrea Ronchi, in an interview with Corriere della Serra, argues that concerns over the EU climate and energy package have been raised across Europe, citing Open Europe's new study on the issue.
BN De Stem AFP Point Carbon Corriere della Serra IHT NY Times: Green Blog European Voice Libertad Digital DW Reuters Spiegel AFP BBC Open Europe research

De Standaard: EU legal services investigate extending Sarkozy's EU Presidency
EU Commission President José Manuel Barroso is reportedly "lying awake at night" worrying about President Sarkozy's impending departure from the EU Council Presidency. According to De Standaard, EU legal services have even been investigating whether or not it will be possible to extend Sarkozy's term to maintain "continuity".

However, the Czech Prime Minister, Mirek Topolanek, has told Angela Merkel that he is committed to ratifying the Lisbon Treaty before the Czech Republic takes over the EU Presidency on 1 January, reports Deutsche Welle. The Czech Constitutional Court is currently reviewing the Treaty to confirm whether or not it is compatible with the Czech constitution. Topolanek admitted it would be "very complicated" to talk to the Irish about their plans for ratification if "we ourselves did not ratify the Lisbon Treaty", according to EUobserver.
Deutsche Welle EUobserver De Standaard OE Blog

Recession predicted for eurozone
The FT reports that "there is little, or no, expectation of growth" in the eurozone in 2009. The IMF has predicted that the eurozone will expand just 0.2 per cent next year, after a little more than 1 per cent in 2008, while BNP Paribas forecasts that the eurozone will contract by 0.3 per cent in 2009. The biggest eurozone members, and the UK, will all face technical recessions at the very least.

Meanwhile, Sweden has become the latest country to shore up its financial system with $200bn worth of credit guarantees to improve liquidity amid fears over leading Swedish banks' exposure to the Baltic economies. The Independent also notes that Iceland is close to agreeing a £3.5bn rescue deal with the IMF, after several days of talks.

France has injected 10.5bn euros into its top six banks in an effort to ensure they can continue to offer credit to businesses and consumers.

The FT reports that Germany has softened some elements of its 500bn euro bank rescue package as arguments escalated over whether banks would be stigmatised for using the package. The IHT notes that the German cabinet loosened a strict pay cap of 500,000 euros a year for top managers amid concerns that it would scare off the banks that needed help.
IHT Telegraph Independent FT FT 2 FT 3 FT 4 Retuers-Le Monde IHT

French Europe Minister Jouyet: "More Europe is needed"
In an interview with La Croix, French Europe Minister Jean-Pierre Jouyet says that Paris is in favour of creating European regulatory authorities for each main sector of financial activity. He told the paper, "The idea today is to advance together on all these sectors to arrive, in time, with the emergence of specific authorities for each of these." He suggested that, "more Europe is needed in the financial sector."

Outlining the priorities for France, he said "the first form of action will be to look towards the strengthening of European level regulation."
La Croix

Rachman: Financial crisis has stalled European integration
The FT's Gideon Rachman argues that EU institutions have not played a key part in finding a solution, and instead European leaders relied upon "the heresy of intergovermentalism" to resolve the crisis.

Rachman writes: "Ardent Europeans in Brussels know that during the financial crisis the true religion of the 'community method' was abandoned...the crisis was dealt with by national governments". This runs counter to what most EU elites assumed would be the inevitable outcome of such a global crisis, and Rachman quotes Romano Prodi from 1999 in a discussion about future economic integration: "Some day there will be a crisis and new instruments will be created".
FT: Rachman

Baroness Ashton gets 'soft touch' hearing in European Parliament
On his Telegraph blog, Bruno Waterfield looks at Catherine Ashton's hearing in the European Parliament's International Trade Committee yesterday, during which the Committee endorsed Ashton as the new Trade Commissioner. Waterfield calls the hearing "the softest touch any of Gordon Brown's unelected and appointed politicians could dream of".

According to EUobserver, Ashton dismissed charges by Farage that she lacked the "relevant experience" for the portfolio. "I am a negotiator, this is what I do. I may not have had the profile of the now newly ennobled Lord Mandelson, but that does not mean I have got no experience. Quite the contrary," she replied.

According to European Voice, Ashton also said that Nicolas Sarkozy's declaration that the EU needed to protect people was not the same as protectionism, which she saw as "a retreat away from being able to work from and within a global economy". She also declared herself to be "strongly pro-European". Her British and European identities, she said, had always pulled her in the same direction. The full Parliament will vote on Ashton's appointment at 11.30 on Wednesday morning.
European Voice Telegraph: Waterfield EUobserver BBC BBC-Mardell

European Union to resume import duties on grain, European Commissioner Fischer Boel has said
Agriholland

Iceland could quickly complete EU membership, European Commissioner says
Iceland could quickly complete European Union membership negotiations should it wish to do so, EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn has said. Iceland's fisheries minister has been quoted last week as saying: "Everyone knows that I am against EU membership," however adding: "today we should think about these questions in a new light." An opinion poll published Saturday in Iceland's Frettabladid daily indicated that 70 percent of Icelanders want a referendum to be held on EU membership, with 49 percent saying they would vote in favour of joining the bloc, 27 percent against and 24 percent undecided.
AFP Telegraaf

Süddeutsche Zeitung reports that French President Sarkoy has declared "full support" for former Bavarian PM Edmund Stoiber in the fight against EU bureaucracy.
Suddeutsche Zeitung

Ukraine: Pro-western 'Orange Revolution' implodes as President Yushchenko and Prime Minister Tymoshenko prepare to face each other in parliamentary elections.
Independent Times

Nominations announced for worst EU lobby awards
Brussels lobby firms acting for both the Kremlin and Tbilisi, and EU official Fritz-Harald Wenig - caught selling trade secrets in a Sunday Times sting - are among candidates for the "Worst EU Lobbying" award in 2008. Further nominations include business association EBPS, nominated for allegedly using friends in high places in the European Parliament to hold on to rent-free rooms and sell access to MEPs for %u20AC15,000 a year.
EU Observer Spiegel Worst EU Lobbyism Awards website

The launch date of the EU's mission to Mars, ExoMars, has been delayed three years until January 2016, after the expected cost of the project doubled to 1.2 billion euros.
European Voice

Lisbon Treaty defeated in mock referendum
Last night ITV's Tonight programme featured a mock referendum on the Lisbon Treaty and EU membership held in Luton earlier this month. People were asked how they would vote on ratification of the Lisbon Treaty: 27 per cent voted yes, 63 per cent voted no and 10 per cent were undecided. The respondents were also asked their views on membership of the EU, with 35 per cent voting to stay in, 54 per cent voting to come out and 11 per cent undecided.
Tonight

Mandelson and Oleg Deripaska dined together a year before they 'met'
The Times reports that Peter Mandelson first met Oleg Deripaska, Russia's richest man, at an exclusive Moscow restaurant in 2005, at least a year earlier than Mandelson originally claimed. Mandelson's friendship with Deripaska has raised questions of a possible conflict of interest because he signed off rule changes that benefited the Russian's company while he was European Trade Commissioner.
Times

UK

Director of Public Prosecutions attacks 'Big Brother' database
The Director of Public Prosecutions, Sir Ken MacDonald, has spoken out against plans for a controversial new database that would hold records of all phone calls and emails made in Britain. He told ministers that it threatened to "break the back of freedom", according to the Independent.
Independent