Schäuble bashes the EU and the US

Everybody is well aware of the problems the German government faces when it comes to convincing its parliament of the prize to pay for the rescue of the Euro. Not so well known is how bad the mood between Berlin and Brussels actually is. Since Commission president Barroso dared to send a letter to Berlin in August urging for quick and bold action on the bailout of Greece (and to leak it to the press), the German government is furious – and lets it know.

Today, it was finance minister W. Schäuble’s turn to bash the Commission. At an international conference in Berlin, he told the public that “there is a lot of nonsense (Unsinn) in Brussels”. He referred to talks on boosting the Euro bailout fund EFSF – a “stupid idea”. People in Brussels simply did not understand how difficult it was to convince the German sovereign of the existing EFSF, Schäuble said. But it was up to the sovereign to decide, not to the experts in Brussels.

“I am not in the best mood on the EU Commission”, Schäuble frankly admitted. Barroso and his team did not deliver on the Euro crisis summit in the end of July, he said. Nor did they do enough in order to boost growth in Greece. Barroso will not appreciate. Perhaps he will strike back as soon as tomorrow: On Wednesday, he will hold a speech in the European parliament on the “state of the union”. Obviously, Schäuble is afraid that Barroso could be too outspoken…

But Barroso is not alone to be at odds with Schäuble. The German finance minister had some arguments with the US administration, too. “It is always much more easy to give advice to others”, he objected to the proposal from finance secretary Geithner to “leverage” the EFSF. “I do not think that the problems in the Eurozone are responsible for the problems in the USA”, he added, referring to president Obamas latest remarks on the Euro crisis.

To sum up, everybody should shut up until the German Bundestag has given green light for the EFSF. Please do not disturb the hard working Bundesregierung…

…unless you listen carefully to what “Schaeuble said”, as reported by FT Alphaville

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