L’Allemagne dans la crise

1. L’Allemagne dans la crise

4. “It is debatable how much longer Germany can be seen as a refuge of stability and security. In reality, German government finances are not nearly in as good shape as the chancellor and the finance minister would have us believe. “

5. “Ironically, Germany has rarely lived up to its own standards in the past. From 2002 to 2006, for example, the country's primary balance was chronically in deficit. By comparison, Italy generated an average primary surplus of 1.3 percent of GDP in the same period. According to projections by the European Commission, Germany will not even be in the same ballpark until next year. In 2013, it is expected to reach a primary surplus of 1.5 percent.

6. “When it comes to their debt-to-GDP ratios, even ailing countries like Spain are in better shape, with values significantly lower than 80 percent. “

7. “Germany has a higher debt than Spain. But nobody here wants to acknowledge this”

8. “The reason for the embarrassing increase is a noticeable reduction in austerity efforts. Flush with cash, Germany's coalition government of the conservatives and the business-friendly Free Democratic Party (FDP) has rediscovered its taste for spending money. At their most recent meeting, the leaders of the CDU, its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), and the FDP approved new spending that will place a significant burden on the federal budget in the future.”

9. Moody's issued a report last week on German banks, citing downside credit risks. Referring to a Bundesbank financial stability report, Moody's noted sizeable exposures of German banks to borrowers in stressed Euro area countries and high reliance on wholesale funding. "We agree with the Bundesbank's assessment that risks for the German financial system have increased significantly," said Moody's.

10. “The official line on today's failed German bond auction is that it "reflects the deep mistrust [of the] euro project rather than a mistrust to German government bonds," • “There is reasons to believe that investors could be growing worried about Germany's financial health. The country has a very high debt to GDP ratio.” • “Maybe the buyers of the bund will return in the next auction. Maybe this was just a glitch. Or maybe Germany's reputation as a safe haven is starting to crack.”

11. “Today comes the news that, yes, even Germany is in trouble as “a ‘disastrous’ sale of German benchmark bonds sparked fears on Wednesday the debt crisis was beginning to threaten even Berlin, with the Bundesbank forced to dig deep into its pockets to ensure the auction did not fail.”

12. “This is being widely regarded as a sign that contagion has long ago left the periphery and is now affecting the very beating heart of the euro zone”

15. More and more, Germany is cast in the role of the villain “The Germans often don’t sufficiently appreciate how wrenching the economic changes are that they’re prescribing,” said Philip Whyte. • Germany, Mr. Whyte said, was trying to remake all of Europe after its competitive, export-driven economic model, without understanding the connection between its success and foreign indebtedness in countries like Greece, which for years used borrowed funds to purchase German goods. • Greeks in particular have been outraged at demands for change dictated by Berlin that impinge on their sovereignty.

17. [Angela Merkel is] a public figure so superficially unremarkable, so singularly lacking in passion or charisma that in nearly 25 years in politics she has (as her biographer puts it) "not made a single speech that stayed in the memory". A moderator, not a leader; a tactician, not a strategist.

18. "She's navigating by sight, with no real political vision, and no authority. So much sluggishness, so much incapacity to grasp the gravity of the situation, takes the breath away ... Angela Merkel has now become Europe's principal problem”, says Jean Quatremer, longstanding Brussels correspondent of the French daily Libération and a veteran observer of European affairs.

19. "Truly great political leaders, real statesmen – they can change the weather. They're prepared to think the unthinkable, to say and do things that they know will be deeply unpopular. Merkel just isn't naturally quite brave enough to do a Thatcher, even a Sarkozy, and try to actually change the way people think."

20. “Unlike in Britain and France, where centralised power and tradition make it easier to take action abroad, in Germany authority is dispersed among various actors and levels of government.”