SOS Europe, Help! Some Germans are still struggling to open their eyes. And in the hope that Trump won’t do what he says, they are still fantasizing about unrealizable things. Like CDU secretary general Carsten Linnemann, who fantasizes about free trade agreements between Europe and the U.S. instead of thinking about how to strengthen domestic demand. If they continue their obsession with austerity this time, they will not only lead Greece into the abyss, but Germany itself and the whole of Europe. Let us hope that Weber and the true Catholics in the EPP will be able to open the eyes of their compatriots

CDU Secretary General Carsten Linnemann has announced an immediate program that will take effect shortly after new elections and a possible CDU government takeover.

The cuts in the federal budget are expected to add up to ten billion euros a year, with a further ten billion euros a year to be saved through a stricter migration policy. "The bottom line is that we need to get to 50 billion euros or more in order to ensure the country's ability to defend itself and to relieve the burden on those who pull the cart in this country," said the CDU politician, who was responsible for the party's basic program. Linnemann also made a promise to maintain the debt brake: "The federal debt brake is cemented."

Surprisingly, Linnemann also announced a new push for the failed free trade agreement TTIP. "I could well imagine that under Friedrich Merz and Donald Trump, together with Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, there will be a new attempt at a transatlantic trade agreement after TTIP has failed," said Linnemann. A new free trade agreement would boost both continents.

He clearly rejected the emergency budget planned by Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD). "That is not necessary at the moment," said Linnemann. Trust is gone. "Every day that this chancellor remains in office is a bad day for Germany," said Linnemann. Germany's business model was "in the greatest danger it has ever been in".

Extract Eurointelligence:

“[…] If you want to know Europe’s true reaction to Donald Trump’s election victory, look no further than Berlin. Germany’s political leadership chose the very moment of Trump’s victory to throw their country into a political vacuum that will last for at least eight months. When Trump becomes president in January, the EU will have lame duck governments in Berlin and Paris.

It is also becoming clear that the EU will not stand up to Trump. They will instead compete for his attention. Viktor Orbán is already Trump’s biggest ally in Europe. Trump will get on very well with Giorgia Meloni. We read an interview with the general secretary of the CDU, who predicts that Merz, a long-standing Atlanticist, together with von der Leyen, would like to negotiate a free trade agreement with Trump. We think this is bordering on the delusional. They are clearly not taking Trump’s threat to impose tariffs seriously, nor his demand for Europeans to raise defence spending to 3% of GDP. Trump has not been the biggest fan of Germany, and especially not of German imports. We doubt that Richard Grenell, a former US ambassador to Germany and one of Trump’s foreign policy advisers, is prioritising a strategic alliance with Germany. Like the courtiers of a decadent monarchy, Europe’s leaders will compete with one another for the great man’s attention – only to realise that he is not interested in them. Trump does not want more German exports, he wants German companies to produce in the US.

The EU, and Germany especially, not only depend on the US for security, but also for absorbing Europe’s large and persistent current account surpluses. With Trump in power, the US will probably do less of both. Since Germany has never known any economic strategy other than industrial export surpluses, we see the German structural slump persisting.  

The way the EU is built is simply not conducive to geopolitical grandstanding.