TWO duelling German metaphors capture the strategy of Angela Merkel, Germany’s chancellor, in the euro crisis. The pejorative version is that she is using “salami tactics”, cutting off the thinnest possible slice of any rescue sausage being negotiated so as to make it more digestible for the German public. She has just done it again by belatedly accepting the latest support package for Greece and manoeuvring it through Germany’s parliament.As with votes on earlier packages, Mrs Merkel needed the backing of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and the Greens, the two opposition parties that hope jointly to defeat her in next September’s election. The two parties cannot risk appearing irresponsible, so they grudgingly support her policy. But they feel they must simultaneously attack her. So they accuse her of salami tactics to persuade voters that Mrs Merkel is not being forthcoming about how much sausage (ie, German commitment) remains to be sliced.The more positive metaphor is that Germany’s government is “driving by sight” (
auf Sicht fahren). This is the term Germans use for safe driving in...
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