The center of the crisis is in Germany, where protesters are calling for an end to fossil fuels, but the federal government doesn’t have the money in its budget to take much more modest steps. Photo: ZUMA Press Wire / Scanpix
Germany is once again the sick person of Europe, but Sweden and Finland are also infected. At the end of the chain is Estonia which suffers from high fever.
“Heligoland, Rügen or Wangerooge,” lists Panagiotis Lafazanis. He was a minister in the Greek government in 2015, when Athens needed another aid package from Europe. He now remembers that at that time the Germans advised: if there is no money, sell your islands.
Lafazanis has been waiting for his moment for eight years and has now told the German tabloid Bild that these Germans can get rid of their economic difficulties and fiscal worries in the same way: by selling some of the mentioned islands.
“Germany now knows what it forced Greece to do,” he says.
Unlike struggling Germany – the only major industrialized country whose economy is contracting this year – Greece has one of the fastest-growing economies in Europe. Over the past five years, Greeks have grown five times faster than Germans, and the state budget has also been much more balanced in Greece than in Germany.
The contrast between Greece and Germany is ironic given recent history, but it also characterizes the broader picture of Europe: the south is swelling with more roar than the south.
According to European Commission forecasts, the Greek economy will grow by more than 2% this year. In the same volume, Spain, Portugal, Romania, Croatia and Malta are also increasing at double the rate.
On the other hand, Northern Europe – that part of the Union that recommended belt-tightening along the Mediterranean during the crisis ten years ago – does not seem to be growing anywhere.
Finland and Sweden are directly connected to the German economy and export there on a large scale. If Finland will stagnate this year, at least in some places, Sweden is one of those whose economy will decline this year. In Estonia, the economy has cooled the most in all of Europe.
The current situation presents the Baltic Sea countries with a dilemma in many respects.
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2023-12-07 13:55:00
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