Doctor Merkel and her lethargic patients

On 7 November, Angela Merkel travelled to Strasbourg to present her vision of Europe to the European parliament. The chancellor, however, found herself “alone with her plan”, remarksSüddeutsche Zeitung. Behind the recommendation to take advantage of the crisis to fix “fundamental errors in the architecture of the Economic and Monetary Union”, Merkel is hiding “the most far reaching project for reform since the launch of the euro”, argues the Munich daily —

One: Merkel wants a new financial market policy (with a European banking authority). Two: a fiscal policy (with a European controller in chief). Three: a stronger European parliament to legitimate all of the above. And four: a common economic policy.

The chancellor is therefore proposing unprecedented interference in the internal affairs of member states, which they will most certainly refuse to accept, notes SZ, which further qualifies their reaction as “pathetic” —

These days the chancellor must be feeling very much alone. [...] In France, the president has buried himself in an imaginary world. In Spain and Italy, they are delighted with lower cost of debt. [...] And in Greece, hope for yet further renegotiations springs eternal. [...] Merkel does not have the means to exert sufficient pressure on this lethargic majority. Once again a horse-trading mentality holds sway in Europe. [...] Perhaps she should still be presenting instruments of torture rather than building plans.

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In Geneva, Le Tempshighlights—

Angela Merkel’s inability to present herself as anything other than a cruel doctor with a gift for curing patients, but certainly not for gaining their trust.

For the Swiss daily, Angela Merkel’s oral exam conducted before an audience of MEPs illustrates a dimension overlooked by Berlin —

Doctor Merkel’s “Made-in-Germany” remedies have been developed to treat physical pain and to restore the correct functioning of organs ruined by years of mismanaged European integration. But the EU is not only suffering from rheumatic pains. It also has a bad case of depression, which has made it unable to imagine itself whole in the future. Yes Doctor Merkel, the problem is in its head! And the German chemistry to which you nearly devoted your career cannot be expected to resolve everything.