By Jiří Hroník
(Opinion) Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced that Germany has decided to create an economic and stabilization fund worth 200 billion euros to protect the country’s economy during the energy crisis.
The country’s Economic Stabilization Fund (WSF), which was established during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, will manage and distribute state aid, Xinhua news agency reported.
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By restarting the fund, Germany is also responding to the changed gas supply situation with Russia, after leaks in the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines led to an indefinite gas flow interruption.
For the other member states of the European Union, this signals that Germany for the first time since the creation of the EU is not interested in principle if they too will have such a sum of money for support.
“This is one of the most decisive steps towards the disintegration of the European Union since its foundation,” macroeconomist Jaroslav Schulz said in an interview with the Czech newspaper Parlamentní listy.
However, he believes that his country can still jump on the bandwagon of this overheated wagon, rushing through the frost.
For the Czech side, according to him, this would be a diplomatic and economic achievement.
According to Schulz, the German economy and its capabilities are completely incomparable to the economy of any other European country.
And everyone knows that no other country in the EU except Germany is able to emerge stronger from its apparent weakness.
In other words, the Germans are now signaling to other EU states that “Germany comes first”, meaning that it will only strengthen its hegemony in Europe during the current energy crisis.
Everyone else will no longer be able to compete with the Germans in most industries because they cannot afford the same high level of investment.
“It’s sad to say this, but we see one of the most decisive steps towards the disintegration of the European Union since its foundation,” says Schulz.
“Not only Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban reacted strongly to this goal, but also Spanish, Italian and French politicians who called for solidarity.
Do Germans deliberately not care about the needs of others?
“Of course, business has nothing to do with friendship. Business aims at profit. At a time when the rest of Europe is on its knees, the German economy will be able to grow at the expense of those losers who do not have such resources. It’s that simple,” says Schulz.
The only question is to what extent will the Americans allow this German hegemony in Europe to strengthen?
No one has an answer to this question.
So far, they are trying to corner the Germans, and the Nord Stream explosions confirm this, adds Schulz.
However, according to Schulz, the Germans seem to be able to escape this mess.
The question is whether the Americans will allow them to gain air.
Schulz says that the Americans are determined to subjugate all of Europe, perhaps, except Great Britain, with which the United States has some old ties.
“But I doubt very much that they will let Germany get away with this squeeze. I don’t sit on the boards of those big American corporations that set the tone for the European game. However, some things can be guessed and what I am saying is a possible option.”
