'If this year’s energy crisis rolls over into next winter and the winter of 2024, Germany will have a very difficult time convincing its current European partners to ignore domestic energy needs and help out the Germans' Opinion | Salahm3d
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz wants more members to join the European Union’s eastern flank, but first, he has called for reforms in the 27-nation bloc to overhaul its basic decision-making process on issues such as foreign policy and taxation.
New members would shore up Germany’s position as the main authority in Europe but would also sign up for Europe’s fading vision on internal and foreign policy.Scholz’s idea is being seen as self-serving. Developments at a recent EU energy commission meeting sent a clear message to Germany that this winter, countries like Italy and Greece, and Spain, to an extent, might reluctantly share their gas with Germany, which means cutting industrial output in their own countries.
He’s called for a “true internal energy market that supplies Europe with hydro-power from the north, wind from the coasts, and solar energy from the south.” A recent survey by the Institute for Economic Research in Germany found that nearly 50 percent of companies surveyed said they were short of skilled workers. This figure has gone up from the last time the survey was conducted in April.
But Germany has another problem, visibly foreign workforces have long faced serious challenges settling in Germany – and lack of want is not the reason. Germany’s overall view of foreign workforces is negative; just ask the Turks, who, after many generations, still feel they don’t belong here.But there is a problem with Scholz’s vision. It doesn't take into account the scar left by the Covid pandemic or the weeping wound of the Ukraine war and the impending Eurozone recession.
Successive German governments haven’t been known for ‘thinking on their feet’, their generally slow conservative outlook means Berlin hasn’t yet realised the changes it needs to make to its long-term strategy with regards to the EU, economy, and internal social cohesion.
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