Skip to main content
Support
Event

Germany’s Historical Euro Responsibility

Over the past two decades, united Germany has accepted its political EU integration responsibility to move toward a European Monetary Union, to introduce the euro, and now to resolve the current Eurocrisis. There is little doubt, Ambassador J.D. Bindenagel argues, that Germany is obligated to support EU integration, constitutionally, historically, and morally.

Date & Time

Thursday
Mar. 1, 2012
12:30pm – 2:00pm ET

Location

6th Floor, Woodrow Wilson Center
Get Directions

Overview

The Eurocrisis is reminiscent of two European conflagrations lasting three decades, the Thirty Years War (1618-1648) and the two twentieth century World Wars (1914-1945), argues Ambassador J.D. Bindenagel in a recent article published in Sueddeutsche Zeitung. Those wars centered on Germany and ravaged Europe and the world. 

The current Eurocrisis centers on Germany and is an existential crisis about European Union political integration. Chancellor Angela Merkel explained that "if the euro falls, Europe falls." She described the challenge as “the most difficult since the Second World War."  Over the past two decades, united Germany has accepted its political EU integration responsibility to move toward a European Monetary Union, to introduce the euro, and now to resolve the current Eurocrisis.  There is little doubt, Bindenagel argues, that Germany is obligated to support EU integration, constitutionally, historically, and morally. 

This existential crisis is fundamentally about European integration – pooling sovereignty for a common fiscal and monetary policy -- and without a resolution, EU disintegration could lead to the resurgence of national interests at the expense of European Union institutions.  Nevertheless, the role of Germany and its politics are the center attraction in the drama, and all the world is watching Berlin.

Joining Ambassador Bindenagel will be Dieter Dettke, former Wilson Center fellow and adjunct professor at the Center for Peace and Security Studies, Georgetown University, and Irene Kyriakopoulos, Wilson Center public policy scholar and professor of national security policy, National Defense University.

Tagged


Hosted By

Global Europe Program

The Global Europe Program addresses vital issues affecting the European continent, US-European relations, and Europe’s ties with the rest of the world. We investigate European approaches to critical global issues: digital transformation, climate, migration, global governance. We also examine Europe’s relations with Russia and Eurasia, China and the Indo-Pacific, the Middle East and Africa. Our program activities cover a wide range of topics, from the role of NATO, the European Union and the OSCE to European energy security, trade disputes, challenges to democracy, and counter-terrorism. The Global Europe Program’s staff, scholars-in-residence, and Global Fellows participate in seminars, policy study groups, and international conferences to provide analytical recommendations to policy makers and the media.  Read more

History and Public Policy Program

The History and Public Policy Program makes public the primary source record of 20th and 21st century international history from repositories around the world, facilitates scholarship based on those records, and uses these materials to provide context for classroom, public, and policy debates on global affairs.  Read more

Thank you for your interest in this event. Please send any feedback or questions to our Events staff.