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Written by Greg Sargent
The financial crisis in Europe has forced indebted nations to turn to Germany. What have they given up? And what will Germany do with its newfound control?
In an interview titled “Germany’s Fourth Reich Has Conquered Europe,” well-known economist Jim Rickards in effect states Germany has taken control of Europe, an endeavor it hasn’t been able to accomplish since the days of the Holy Roman Empire.
What did the Germans do that generated such a shocking statement? Some historical context is necessary to understand what happened.
Germany kept in a cage
Our older readers remember the terror incited by Hitler and his Nazi party during World War II. The old German national anthem certainly reflected the Nazi attitude at that time: “Germany, Germany, above all, above everything in the world.”
The Allies attempted to ensure that Germany would never be “above all.” They devised the strategy of dividing Germany into four sectors that would decisively neutralize Germany’s power for a time. As Germany began to rebuild, “France designed the European Union to explicitly contain German power so it could never be harmed again” (STRATFOR, July 26, 2011).
Luigi Barzini, author of The Europeans (1983), understood the danger of Germany on the loose. In his chapter “The Mutable Germans,” he made such statements as:
- “Germany was then short for the ‘Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation.’”
- “The leader, Otto von Bismarck, dreaded a Germany that would, if left to its own new tactless arrogance, dominate Europe with catastrophic results.”
- “Its decisions could once again overwhelm Europe and the world.”
- “The future of Europe appears largely to depend today once again, for good or evil, whether we like it or not, as it did for many centuries, on the future of Germany.”
Germans take control
Whether we do like it or not, Germany made a decision on July 21 that had the French thrilled but also terrified. The Germans began taking financial control apart from EU structures. “The Europe that was a cage for Germany is no more” (STRATFOR, July 26, 2011).
The STRATFOR article goes on to explain how Germans gained so much control during the present economic crisis in the 17-countries that use the euro. “Unlike previous EU institutions (which the Germans strongly influence), the EFSF [European Financial Security Facility] takes its orders from the Germans. The mechanism is not enshrined in EU treaties; it is instead a private bank, the director of which is German. …
“Faced with the futility of yet another stopgap solution to the eurozone’s financial woes, the Germans finally made a tough decision. … The result was an EFSF redesign. Under the new system the distressed states can now access—with German permission—all the capital they need from the fund without having to go back repeatedly to the EU Council of Ministers. …
“The EFSF has been granted the ability to participate directly in the bond market by buying the government debt of states that cannot find anyone else interested, or even act pre-emptively should future crises threaten, without needing to first negotiate a bailout program. The EFSF can even extend credit to states that were considering internal bailouts of their banking systems. It is a massive debt consolidation program for both private and public sectors.
“In order to get the money, distressed states merely have to do whatever Germany—the manager of the fund—wants. The decision-making occurs within the fund, not at the EU institutional level.”
The Germans are working with the other eurozone countries, especially France, to work out the details of the new bailout program. For example, the EFSF will take over the European Central Bank’s “task of buying up debt-stricken countries’ sovereign bonds in the fall” Spiegel reported Aug. 30.
Sovereign debt is money owed by a country. An article from Reuters on Aug. 31 explained a proposal that, before the EFSF would take over the debt of a country, the indebted country must first put up collateral. One idea would be for the indebted country to nationalize its banks and then use the banks’ shares as collateral.
As in all cases of borrowing and lending, the borrower is servant to the lender. The result: The EFSF, under German leadership, would control, to a great extent, the financial institutions of the indebted country.
The Maastricht Treaty—a turning point
How the details will evolve, no one can predict. Interestingly, John Allen wrote: “At bottom, the fear is that after a half-century of moving in concert with other Western powers, Germany may be reverting to historical form—putting its own strategic and commercial interests first, however destabilizing for the rest of the world. … There’s long been a sense that German-speaking Catholicism is susceptible to what the late Swiss theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar termed an ‘anti-Roman affect,’ meaning, roughly, an instinct to rebel” (National Catholic Reporter, July 27, 2011).
Vaclav Klaus, president of the Czech Republic, made the following remarks in Berlin: “European integration took a different course during the 1980s, and the decisive breakthrough came with the Maastricht Treaty in December 1991. Political interests that sought to unify and create a new superpower out of Europe started to dominate. … The ongoing weakening of democracy and of free markets on the European continent represents something we did not expect” (“The Crisis of the European Union: Causes and Significance,” Imprimis, July/August 2011).
Though unexpected by some, this has been expected by those who understand Bible prophecy.
The beast’s financial authority
Students of the Bible have wondered how the prophesied end-time beast (a powerful combine of nations and its leader) will rise from oblivion to become the dominant military and economic force over the entire world. The same beast that is thrown into the lake of fire at Christ’s return (Revelation 19:20) is given authority over every nation whereby no one can buy or sell unless they have the mark of the beast (Revelation 13:17).
Is there any connection between Germany’s eurozone financial interests and the beast of Revelation? Time will tell. Certainly no leader over any country would want to fulfill the role of the beast. Nevertheless, God has already warned, “Yet he does not mean so, nor does his heart think so; but it is in his heart to destroy, and cut off not a few nations” (Isaiah 10:7).
Our readers need to be aware of what is transpiring at the end of the age. God gave an encouraging message to one of His churches that gives us hope: “But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober” (1 Thessalonians 5:4-6).
Greg Sargent is pastor of the Church of God, a Worldwide Association, congregations in Kansas City, Salina and Wichita, Kansas, and Columbia, Missouri.
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