Still waiting for Paris: Germany’s reluctant hegemony in pursuing political union in the Euro Area

Abstract:

After decades proposing the creation of a political union to make the euro sustainable, Germany has not utilised the ‘window’ offered by the Eurozone crisis to pursue this goal.

Using the conceptual devices of the ‘Chartalist theory of money’ (which states that a monetary union cannot work without a political union) and ‘hegemony’, three possible explanations are explored in this paper.(1) Germany is slowly becoming a ‘normal’ power; (2) The German public has lost its enthusiasm for European integration; (3) Germany remains a reluctant hegemon and once it has seen that France is still not ready for political union it has refrained from actively promoting this ideal.

The conclusion of the paper is that the first two explanations have merits, but the third remains more convincing. Berlin is still determined to build a more federal Europe. The question is rather whether Paris is ready to participate in this endeavour.