3 ms·
The problem comes more from the fact that 70% or so of German exports go to the rest of European Union and mostly the Euro zone. Germany actually kept itself o
by wazoox 16y ago
The problem comes more from the fact that 70% or so of German exports go to the rest of European Union and mostly the Euro zone.
Germany actually kept itself out of the water largely by lifting itself upon its neighbours' heads. Then Merkel will rant about the "lazy greeks" and other amenities.
Actually the problem arises from the disparity between a monetary union without financial, fiscal and debt union. Unsurprisingly, the biggest boy did better than the rest of the pack.
- lispm 16y agoThe EU is diverse and has a lot of different member states. Germany's largest trading partners are not Ireland or Greece. Far from it. It is France. Germany is also the largest importer in the EU. For many products it sells there are suppliers somewhere else in the EU. The problem of Ireland and Greece are not so much caused by trade deficits with Germany. There are problems caused by trade deficits (while at the same time Germany is transferring lots of money into the EU by its EU contributions and investments), but Ireland's problems were caused by its bursting housing bubble and its banking crisis. Greece OTOH has internal budget deficit problems (expensive public sector, corruption, arms deals, ...).