Abstract

The Continent Divided

The current upheaval is Europe's German crisis. Maastricht, Netherlands, after all, is a byproduct of German reunification. The purpose of the Monetary and Political Union, designed in Maastricht in December 1991, was to keep the reunified Germany within the Western European orbit. German Chancellor Helmut Kohl has been throwing his weight around ever since, notably as arbitrator in Franco-British conflicts. But it is also the crisis of German reunification. When capital invades new territory, it tends to destroy existing industry in order to provide a market for its consumer and capital goods. This process, involving mass unemployment and a sharp drop in living standards, is very painful, but in Eastern Europe, on I.M.F orders, the cost must be borne by the local working population.