Merkel’s eurozone policies under increasing pressure
Despite public reassurances from Merkel over the weekend that she would not bow to pressure from European partners and financial markets to agree to joint eurozone bonds, there were signs of growing unease at her policy course from within her conservative camp.
Shortly after returning from an official trip to the Balkans this evening, she is due to attend a special meeting of lawmakers from her parliamentary bloc, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and Christian Social Union (CSU), to answer questions from Bundestag members.
Reflecting worries about Merkel’s course, the CDU leadership has agreed to make the government’s eurozone policy a central theme of a party congress in early November.
Elsewhere in Europe, Merkel is being accused of doing too little to save the 12-year old single currency project, while at home she is under fire for having gone too far.
Both her partners abroad and allies in Germany have begun questioning her leadership in the crisis, which has sometimes seemed passive as she struggles to satisfy different interest groups.
“Policy seems to be formed day by day. It’s always reactive, not proactive. There is no leadership from Merkel and that is the gist of the problem,” Josef Joffe, editor of German weekly Die Zeit told Reuters.
Yesterday, the Bundesbank issued one of its most stinging criticisms to date of Europe’s — and by default Merkel’s — crisis management, saying governments risked turning the bloc into a “transfer union” in which Germany pays for the sins of its euro partners.
Merkel agreed at a July 21 summit in Brussels to a series of new measures to combat the debt crisis.
