In the last few years we saw it in action, with important repercussion on the global level: for example, the way the Greek crisis was managed it had to do much more with the safety of German banks, that with the welfare of Greece (https://www.esmt.org/pub/where-did-greek-bailout-money-go).
That's insulting, and factually inaccurate - unless you have evidence to substantiate this hyperbole?
> for example, the way the Greek crisis was managed
The Greek crisis had other origins, and the financial checks/obligations upon joining the Euro are supposed to mitigate against the risk of not being able to devalue a national currency to e.g. boost tourism or exports. Too bad the Greek financial records may have not been completely accurate.
While Germany has benefited from the Euro, so have other countries. And it wasn't/isn't without downsides for Germany, either. I distinctly remember when the Euro was introduced, everything became far more expensive than the Deutschmark prices had been.
I think we can agree on that the economy is very much globally connected, and that a recession is going to have wide-spread effects. And that austerity doesn't work, and shows that best case, economists and bankers don't know what they're doing, or worst case know exactly what they're doing.
However, equating the actions/stance of one nations banks to that nation's people is a leap too far.
Guess who pushed hard and voiched for greece joining the euro?
If you are trying to insinuate that this was a German plot, you couldn't be farther from the truth. The Deutsche Mark was a sacred cow and getting rid of it in favour of a common currency with "irresponsible countries" with weak currencies was deeply unpopular even with internationalists like Kohl. Only France threatening to block German reunification unless they drop the Mark, in 1990, got German politicians to agree to giving up their currency.
The crisis was managed irrationally and vengefully, and certainly with an eye on bailing out German and French banks, and making an example of Greece.
There's a very cozy relationship between politics, business leadership and most of the union leadership in countries like Germany and the Netherlands.
The relationship is that cozy, that pretty clearly unethical acts hardly warrant official responses of the juridicary, politics or unions. One step worse for the public is that even enacted legislation is not always upheld when the three parties agree on it not being in their (local) interest. The Rheinland model transfers legitimacy from the individual to the parties representing the different interests. At that point power is concentrated, and corrupts.
Best recent example is the Volkswagen-example. But most large Rhineland corporations have such examples (Shell in Nigeria, Siemens in Spain, ...) I recently re-read a well-cited article on corporate social responsibility. Guess which firm was one of the examples... Volkswagen.
For the welfare of the people in Greece the greek government is responsible, not Angela Merkel.
That is correct, but one could ask that people don't go around and say "Germany saved Greece!", cause no .. it didn't. It saved its banks.
Without paying back the money (-> to the banks), Greece would have been bancrupt within days. Thus saving the banks saved Greece from being bancrupt. Without banks and without government money from the outside, nobody would have given Greece any credits...
The currency union was just very badly thought out. A currency union without a fiscal union is probably a bad idea. That was recognized somewhat by the stability criteria for new members that were then swiftly ignored for various reasons.
That's highly debatable and in a changing political landscape there was no future for that. A tiny country next to the EU and a large Eurozone? Greece needed reforms and some (not all) of them were long delayed. That's also the point of the EU and the Eurozone. It provides the framework for the reforms. The largest win for Greece is a stable democracy, after a long phase of political instability and military governments.
Instead, the common currency has greatly benefited Germany: had the Germans retained the Deutsche Mark, their currency would be valued higher than the Euro is now, making their exports more expensive and/or lowering the profits of export industries.
Greece with its Drachma would have been a welcome victim for currency speculation. This was tried with the Euro, too, but it failed.
People also think in economic terms, but the Euro is a political project. Countries like Greece wanted to be in the Eurozone. It was not Germany's wish. It was the wish of Greece and the population of Greece also wanted it - not just the politicians.
Germany actually did not want to have the Euro itself, it agreed to the Euro to get the Reunification. But it agreed on the Euro to be a stable currency, not one that politicians would devalue to gain short term effects.
All pegs are a potential victim of currency speculation. The solution is to end the peg and let the currency float, as it happened to the British Pound/Deutche Mark during the Soros stunt in the 90s or more recently with the Euro/Swiss Franc peg.
I notice this world wide
I ask government officials for "expedited processing" with IRL emphasis and air quotes when I want something done faster, some times it could be construed as a kick back, other times the legislature had already voted for that where I must congratulate them for their keen recognition of revenue streams.
I don't consider due process as the qualifier of non-corruption. I don't actually care.
I just wish more people would accept the relative morality of the institutions they comply with.