> are all countries willing to adopt German fiscal discipline?
Most of them have already, you just don't read about it. If anything, German authorities have been excellent at gaming the EU framework, siphoning state aids to this or that industry with all the possible loopholes they could find, while everyone else had to renounce (or even denounce) the practice.
> Are all countries ok with levelling out retirement age?
The pension age in Germany is 65 years ("and 10 months", in my best Lester Freamon accent). In profligate Italy? 67. So yeah, let's have that.
> Social benefits?
Honestly, you don't want to trade benefits with the army of temp workers that Italian "reforms" have generated. They get hardly any paid holiday or sickness, can be fired with no recourse year by year, and so on. German workers get trade union representation at board level, something that simply does not exist in Italy even in the most enlightened companies. They get loads of paid holidays and so on.
> Now they are an economic powerhouse. With 0 natural resources
Ah yes, the Ruhr never existed. From wikipedia: "The Ruhr was at the centre of the German economic miracle Wirtschaftswunder of the 1950s and 1960s, as very rapid economic growth (9% a year) created a heavy demand for coal and steel." All that coal must have been a dream.
Italy had an economic boom in the postwar age too. After all, they were fellow victims of Allied carpet-bombing of industrial infrastructure, and fellow enjoyers of the Marshall Plan. The main difference is that Italy made a few bad choices in the '80s (and possibly another one in the late '90s, when they accepted an Euro/Lira rate too low).
In any case, this attitude is not constructive. It's good that the German political classes, at least, have finally realized that the hipocrisy of privately benefiting from a sclerotic status quo while publicly denouncing it, could not go on forever. Let's build the United States of Europe, everyone doing their bit so we can fulfil the federal dream and be done with these petty rivalries from 200 years ago.
I had to look up what that means. I'm not German. Now what?
> So yeah, let's have that.
Yeah, let's. Italian pensions are about 90% of the former salary? Germany is 50%. Italians make higher payments tough as well. The difference is, Germany is doing that from a much lower debt ratio.
Temp workers are a thing in Germany as well, they get no inion representations. And again, the difference here: German economy is doing well.
Sure the Ruhr existed, have you been there lately? Crazy decline since the 70s. Wasn't a coincidence that the heaviest german metal bands come from there.
> The main difference is that Italy made a few bad choices in the '80s
Exactly. That's why they have this huge debt now, which results in the whole Eurozone shaking whenever interest rates go up. That's why we had low interest rates, which the Germans were very unhappy with. Draghi tried to work on that, but now he is out. Seems like a right to far right coalition might ein the election in the promise of flat tax and not raising retirement age. Will that be the Germans fault as well?
> Let's build the United States of Europe, everyone doing their bit so we can fulfil the federal dream and be done with these petty rivalries from 200 years ago.
Yes, please! But that only works if everyone is in and works on themselves. I don't thinkt the attitude of blaming everything on the Germans is very constructive either.
After the reunification, Germany, as a country, is the poster child of economic success. The balance of trade of Germany, has been just ridiculous. Still, the conditions of the average German have not improve, if something, they are worst.
So, where are all that wealth going? I suppose if you ask the politicians they will tell you that to those lazy guys in the south. Well, that's not it. The Germans should take a good look at what's going on there.
Is that the model others should copy?
Also, you keep railing about "the lazy guys in the south". I'm sorry these stereotypes exist. I don't believe them.
Do you seriously believe the problems of the Spanish economy are all because of Germany? There is absolutely not even a single thing that Spain is doing wrong?