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[Mictlantecuhtli]

Well, it's not like Merkel isn't the defacto leader of the EU's policy machine anyway..

[Descan]

Hey, if she wins a EU-wide presidential election, then sure?

Of course, the bigger your electorate, the more likely you'll get a president with like, 10% of the vote but still the majority, everyone else getting less than that. :/

[XXSockXX]

Well, it's not like Merkel isn't the defacto leader of the EU's policy machine anyway..

Wouldn't be half as bad maybe, though it looks a bit like she is on her way out already anyway. Don't think she's going to do all that much till 2017 and she's probably not going to be around after that.

I'm a talkative fucker.

Maybe I'll up and move to Germany.

You guys really need a Euro-President-For-Life, or at least unlimited terms.

Waitaminute, you're not trying to talk us into giving you a job, are you?

[Descan]

Y-... N-nooooo. Not at all...

SMOKEBOMB!

* Descan scampers off.

[Helgoland]

Well, it's not like Merkel isn't the defacto leader of the EU's policy machine anyway..

Wouldn't be half as bad maybe, though it looks a bit like she is on her way out already anyway. Don't think she's going to do all that much till 2017 and she's probably not going to be around after that.

I'Ve definitely heard she isn't planning to become another Kohl, and there even were rumors of her leaving in 2016, halfway through her third chancellorship. But I've also heard rumors that she's looking to leave the Kanzleramt to get precisely the job Descan's been talking about...

[XXSockXX]

I'Ve definitely heard she isn't planning to become another Kohl, and there even were rumors of her leaving in 2016, halfway through her third chancellorship. But I've also heard rumors that she's looking to leave the Kanzleramt to get precisely the job Descan's been talking about...

Merkel intensifies? 

Yeah, but those are just rumours so far. I'm really curious who's going to try to follow her as chancellor, looks like we're going to get another post-Kohl vacuum in the CDU, but without a strong SPD this time. It's going to be interesting...or horrifying...or both.

[Helgoland]

I'm still rooting for a Steinbrück comeback. He's centrist, he says what he thinks, and he's in the right wing of the SPD: He's basically the German Joe Biden!
It's a shame they burned him in 2014, really. Other contenders? Von der Leyen, maybe even Schäuble? But the SPD is pretty much bled dry.

[Sheb]

Steinbrück - and the whole German SPD - is way too pro-Russian for my taste.

Fakeedit: I was mixing up Steinbrück and Steinmeier.

Anyway, I mostly wanted to post this: a really good portait of Merckel by the New Yorker. IMO, a must-read for anyone outside Germany who wants to know more about the Mutti That Rules Them All.

[mainiac]

Anyway, I mostly wanted to post this: a really good portait of Merckel by the New Yorker. IMO, a must-read for anyone outside Germany who wants to know more about the Mutti That Rules Them All.

It's a very negative portrait.  It depicts her as having no agenda, no reason to be in politics, just accumulating political capital never spending it.  That's a very frightening image if you think about the implications.

[Sheb]

There was a nice quote that you exemplify perfectly:

Americans don’t like to think of our leaders as having no higher principles. We want at least a suggestion of the “vision thing”—George H. W. Bush’s derisive term, for which he was derided. But Germany remains so traumatized by the grand ideologies of its past that a politics of no ideas has a comforting allure.

[MarcAFK]

So the article is basically illustrating what americans think of german politics?

[Sheb]

No, but the fact that mainiac's reaction is so negative is a nice illustration of that quote. Neither me nor Helgoland found it negative.

[Sergarr]

No additional reactors planned. But they're considering to change the law to allow the construction of a new reactor. Very hypothetical though.

The planned "solution" is obviously import, and continued reliance on natural gas. IIRC, they're thinking about 50-70 % nat gas, 20-40% Renewable, and minority of coal for 2030.

The result is obvious : electricty bills doubling*, energy sector emissions rising by 40%, ...

*Not that nuclear is cheap either. But it's not that expensive when compared with the 60 billion we need now.

Why do countries need energy autarky? It's not like Belgium's defenses would last long enough for a blackout to occur if its neighbors started to invade anyway.

We don't. But if we don't go for autarky, we should go for an upgraded European grid, which isn't a very high priority either.

Quite honestly, and this seems to be more prevalent in energy policy than elsewhere, the entire policy is dominated by short term thinking. If it can't get done in your term it isn't. If the problems only crop up next term, it's the other guys problem.

So to make good energy policy decisions, you need a dictator? Russia's mass construction of new nuclear reactors seems to confirm that.

[10ebbor10]

Preferably a competent and benevolent dictator*, but yes. The problem is that a party politics systems with re-elections every 4-5-6 years does not encourage long term strategies.



*Note: Not implying that Putin is incompetent, or a dictator.

[Helgoland]

There was a nice quote that you exemplify perfectly:

Americans don’t like to think of our leaders as having no higher principles. We want at least a suggestion of the “vision thing”—George H. W. Bush’s derisive term, for which he was derided. But Germany remains so traumatized by the grand ideologies of its past that a politics of no ideas has a comforting allure.

There's a quote from Helmut Schmidt, who's practically our national Elder Statesman: "If you have visions, go see a doctor."