Germany: Balancing the Country's Needs With the Public's Demands

The relative strength of the German economy has helped Berlin weather domestic criticisms over how it has managed the European crisis. Apart from demanding unpopular reforms in struggling countries, its strategy hinges on bailouts and relies on European Central Bank intervention. For its own economic prosperity and security, Germany must preserve the cohesion of the eurozone and the European Union.

But as Europe's economic crisis persists, Germany is under greater pressure domestically to carry the costs associated with European integration. Eventually there will be more factions within Germany that oppose the inequity, the cost to German taxpayers and the cessation of sovereignty they believe the European Union engenders, especially if unemployment rises. It will then be more difficult for Berlin to support policies that require greater solidarity and sacrifice for the sake of European cohesion.