Who is the Audience

I just spent four days in Germany during which the "agreement" for Greece was hammered out, and the second disaster in Katyn occurred.

Now although I watch German TV daily it is still not the same as being there-and I certainly don't read the German equivalent of the English "Red Tops" such as Bild Zeitung in the UK although the headlines are impossible to ignore when in Germany.

What struck me this time, is the difference between how the same subject is treated when it is targeted for domestic versus international consumption.

Let's start with Greece. The international press, has focused on the significance of Germany's moves in a geopolitical sense casting the spectre of a resurgent German Nationalism. Yesterdays' IHT front page headlines declared a change in Germany's policy and trumpeted a change from gentle giant of Europe into a more assertive Germany.

The Headlines in the main German newspapers such as the FAZ and the SDZ view Germany's approach to Greece solely in domestic terms. It is much more subtle in describing the shift stressing that Germany had to go through difficult times to make it "fit for globalisation".

Germany sees consumer spending as an adjunct; not the main driver of it's economy. Modern German history is scarred by two World Wars, one hyperinflation and two new currencies; the DM and the Euro. Economic stability, low inflation and fiscal discipline are given precedence even if means the implementation of harsh fiscal conditions and slower growth. The German domestic discussion is that everyone should be required to swallow the same bitter medicine that the Germans prescribe themselves.

Internally this is viewed as rational. Externally it is viewed as German Nationalism bearing with it all the risks that portends.

I am sure that many in the external audience have little sympathy for Germany and view such actions by the Germans as worrisome. I am sure that many feel that Germany still has many sins to atone for and they should continue to pay for the sake of European unity/prosperity.

Internally, the expenditures associated with re-unification have left Germany, though still well-off, significantly less wealthy than before. This has made it much more difficult for German politicians to continue to subsidize the rest of Europe. As always, in addition to understandable concerns about the costs associated with Europe being raised in Germany there are also populist rabblerousers who make a lot of noise. What is more a disappointment is the technocratic attitude of the FDP that is willing to jump onto the bandwagon, even if it means lending credence to the run-of-the-mill populists.

There is a new Germany. Not necessarily good or bad, but new, and finding it's place will take time and patience-neither of which are likely to be granted internally or externally.

I will address Katyn tomorrow.