How Germany Wins At Manufacturing — For Now

[StLucieBengal]

(01-08-2018, 11:58 AM)GMDino Wrote: I believe what Matt means is: Provide proof or this remain simply an opinion.  If you can post repeated responses you can provide several of the "hundreds" of sources to back up that claim. 

Stick to memes. You have shown time and again you haven’t a clu on this topic and many others.

Matt and I both know what going on the difference is I believe in individual free nations and he believes in the United States of Europe led by the Germans.

[GMDino]

(01-08-2018, 06:12 PM)StLucieBengal Wrote: Stick to memes.   You have shown time and again you haven’t a clu on this topic and many others.    

Matt and I both know what going on the difference is I believe in individual free nations  and he believes in the United States of Europe led by the Germans.

Well, I tried to be nice.

(01-08-2018, 02:32 PM)Belsnickel Wrote: I used foul language because it is the most accurate description of your statements: bullshit. I read an essay, recently, titled "No, You’re Not Entitled to Your Opinion" that is a very good discussion of things that happen on here. You're entitled to an opinion insofar as you can argue it, and by argue I mean provide evidence. That is what good argumentation is all about, not mindlessly repeating claims without any sort of backing.

Now, if you would like to have a discussion about all of this and provide evidence (not opinion pieces as you typically provide) about how things are going in the EU and Germany being the cause, feel free. I will wait for such evidence to be provided to support your claims before engaging in this discussion further.

And I don't love the German government. I'm actually anti-Merkel. She is neoliberal, she is center-right, and she is not concerned about the welfare of the citizenry that need that concern the most. I am not a fan of the CDU/CSU in any way.

I suppose insults are better than swearing.

[hollodero]

(01-08-2018, 06:09 PM)StLucieBengal Wrote: Yeah you want it go even worse with your boy Schultz.  

Look I post article after article about numerous experts that find the Germans manipulating currency with the EU to their benefit.   There is also significant evidence of the EU crippling member nations “for the food of Europe”. Which happens to benefit germany since they manipulate currency.  

Germany is not a good place and it’s going down.  Realistic Germans see this and it’s exactly why we had a bump in AfD voting.

Wait, that's starting to really confuse me. Is Germany benefitting from dirty currency manipulation - or is it actually going down?

And is this insecurity the lesser emotional state the intellectuals in the AfD sublimate by bringing out the noble feeling of hatemongering against anything Islamic?

[Belsnickel]

(01-08-2018, 06:09 PM)StLucieBengal Wrote: Yeah you want it go even worse with your boy Schultz.

Look I post article after article about numerous experts that find the Germans manipulating currency with the EU to their benefit. There is also significant evidence of the EU crippling member nations “for the food of Europe”. Which happens to benefit germany since they manipulate currency.

Germany is not a good place and it’s going down. Realistic Germans see this and it’s exactly why we had a bump in AfD voting.

Swear away.... after all when you have nothing to say you just fall into foul language.

The article you posted in this thread refuted your own point. You have yet to provide further evidence.

[StLucieBengal]

(01-08-2018, 07:43 PM)hollodero Wrote: Wait, that's starting to really confuse me. Is Germany benefitting from dirty currency manipulation - or is it actually going down?

And is this insecurity the lesser emotional state the intellectuals in the AfD sublimate by bringing out the noble feeling of hatemongering against anything Islamic?

It’s happening and Germany is leveraging eu policy for it to happen even more.

Even your PM knows Germany/EU is dirty and corrupt.

[StLucieBengal]

(01-08-2018, 08:19 PM)Belsnickel Wrote: The article you posted in this thread refuted your own point. You have yet to provide further evidence.

This has been an ongoing topic for a while now so I shouldn’t have to post every link every time this topic is brought up.

It’s ok if you stand against free nation states to do as they wish. This will just eventually lead to another war.

[hollodero]

(01-08-2018, 10:16 PM)StLucieBengal Wrote: It’s happening and Germany is leveraging eu policy for it to happen even more.    

Still confused. Is Germany going down or are they leveraging the EU to benefit?

(01-08-2018, 10:16 PM)StLucieBengal Wrote: Even your PM knows Germany/EU is dirty and corrupt.

Our what now?
Also, what does "even" mean.

[StLucieBengal]

(01-08-2018, 10:58 PM)hollodero Wrote: Still confused. Is Germany going down or are they leveraging the EU to benefit?


Our what now?
Also, what does "even" mean.

Germany benefits from the rest of the EU struggling. Which is why the EU policy is to weaken members under the Euro.

[hollodero]

(01-08-2018, 11:05 PM)StLucieBengal Wrote: Germany benefits from the rest of the EU struggling.   Which is why the EU policy is to weaken members under the Euro.

Oh that's a shame for the rest of the EU, but a sweet deal for Germany. So how comes Germany still is "not a good place and will go down"? Looks like they got everything going for them. So what do the realistic AfD people want then?

I really wouldn't know, the realistic AfD voters rather hide away, those one sees are just the islamophobic reactionaries.

[StLucieBengal]

(01-08-2018, 11:38 PM)hollodero Wrote: Oh that's a shame for the rest of the EU, but a sweet deal for Germany. So how comes Germany still is "not a good place and will go down"? Looks like they got everything going for them. So what do the realistic AfD people want then?

I really wouldn't know, the realistic AfD voters rather hide away, those one sees are just the islamophobic reactionaries.

You think the rise in anti Semitic behavior is a positive? This is what has Ben happening thanks to the mother of all migrants.

[hollodero]

(01-09-2018, 03:46 AM)StLucieBengal Wrote: You think the rise in anti Semitic behavior is a positive?

Oh, me, no I don't think so. But what do I know, as you said I am way too close to see what's going on, just as Belsnickel is way too beloving in Germany and too deperately wants them to be something they are not, according to you. So it's not what I think, it's about what you think, you have so many sources and such a clear, rational perspective.

So enlighten me, does the rise of anti-semitism have anything to do with Germany being a currency manipulator? Is it because of migrants? And would you say the AfD is a protector against anti-semitism?
Also, still open, why is Germany going down. Seems like you say they successfully take advantage of all the other EU countries, which is a Germany first policy and doesn't really seem like "going down"...?

[Belsnickel]

(01-08-2018, 10:18 PM)StLucieBengal Wrote: This has been an ongoing topic for a while now so I shouldn’t have to post every link every time this topic is brought up.

Yeah, you have yet to provide any substantial, objective evidence for your claims. In any thread on this, or most topics you talk about, really.

(01-08-2018, 10:18 PM)StLucieBengal Wrote: It’s ok if you stand against free nation states to do as they wish. This will just eventually lead to another war.

[StLucieBengal]

(01-09-2018, 09:56 AM)Belsnickel Wrote: Yeah, you have yet to provide any substantial, objective evidence for your claims. In any thread on this, or most topics you talk about, really.

Ah so the expert after expert who also holds my position isn’t good enough for you. Just because the position doesn’t agree with yours doesn’t mean it’s not a valid position. There is a problem in Germany at the moment, they can’t even form a coalition government. Not to mention it’s crazy AfD got as many votes as it did...... imagine if Frauke Petry had stayed the leader as she was pushing to get AfD within the coalition. It’s posible that had she stayed Germany would at least be able to form a government.

And by supporting the EU you are against free nations. Unless you support the EU allowing nations to control their own borders, currency, courts, fishing waters, etc . I support he EU in its original form and purpose. As a trade union and nothing more. I would love to see a trade union formed if the EU did collapse.

[Belsnickel]

(01-09-2018, 02:49 PM)StLucieBengal Wrote: Ah so the expert after expert who also holds my position isn’t good enough for you. Just because the position doesn’t agree with yours doesn’t mean it’s not a valid position. There is a problem in Germany at the moment, they can’t even form a coalition government. Not to mention it’s crazy AfD got as many votes as it did...... imagine if Frauke Petry had stayed the leader as she was pushing to get AfD within the coalition. It’s posible that had she stayed Germany would at least be able to form a government.

Your "expert after experts" are far-right wing partisans stating their opinions with, much like you, no evidence to back up their claims. Opinions are still opinions, no matter who has them, if evidence is not provided to support them.

(01-09-2018, 02:49 PM)StLucieBengal Wrote: And by supporting the EU you are against free nations. Unless you support the EU allowing nations to control their own borders, currency, courts, fishing waters, etc . I support he EU in its original form and purpose. As a trade union and nothing more. I would love to see a trade union formed if the EU did collapse.

Your opinion is noted, and I consider it to be wrong. The representative system of the European Union allows the people of every nation to have a voice in its operation and allows a sizeable amount of autonomy for its member states. Countries are only subject to EU laws when it comes to matters that impact the EU as a whole and not the individual nation.

[StLucieBengal]

(01-09-2018, 09:16 AM)hollodero Wrote: Oh, me, no I don't think so. But what do I know, as you said I am way too close to see what's going on, just as Belsnickel is way too beloving in Germany and too deperately wants them to be something they are not, according to you. So it's not what I think, it's about what you think, you have so many sources and such a clear, rational perspective.

So enlighten me, does the rise of anti-semitism have anything to do with Germany being a currency manipulator? Is it because of migrants? And would you say the AfD is a protector against anti-semitism?
Also, still open, why is Germany going down. Seems like you say they successfully take advantage of all the other EU countries, which is a Germany first policy and doesn't really seem like "going down"...?

Forgive for not remembering, but aren’t you the Austrian guy? I confuse you with the French guy I think, unless your the French guy that I am confusing with the Austrian guy.

Going to assume your the Austrian guy until you correct me.

What do you have to say about the position your country is likely taking in regards to Europe.

https://voiceofeurope.com/2017/12/austrias-next-chancellor-is-following-the-footsteps-of-hungarian-pm-viktor-orban/

I can post the links to Orban’s recent Declarations with Poland if you need me.

[StLucieBengal]

(01-09-2018, 03:02 PM)Belsnickel Wrote: Your "expert after experts" are far-right wing partisans stating their opinions with, much like you, no evidence to back up their claims. Opinions are still opinions, no matter who has them, if evidence is not provided to support them.


Your opinion is noted, and I consider it to be wrong. The representative system of the European Union allows the people of every nation to have a voice in its operation and allows a sizeable amount of autonomy for its member states. Countries are only subject to EU laws when it comes to matters that impact the EU as a whole and not the individual nation.

And your positions come from socialist partisans who want the United States of Europe. See I can also make ridiculous notions.

How about this ..... is the EU a good thing if it’s ran by (like it is now by Germany) Poland and Hungry? It’s a pretty safe bet that something isn’t good if you are afraid of anyone other than “your guys” being in control. The USA works because we don’t fear any party or Group getting control. Does he EU work if it’s led by Poland and Hungry? Or Italy potentially under the control of the 5 star.

[Belsnickel]

(01-09-2018, 03:16 PM)StLucieBengal Wrote: And your positions come from socialist partisans who want the United States of Europe. See I can also make ridiculous notions.

I didn't say your positions came from them, just described who the experts are whose opinions your provide. Don't be unhappy with me for calling a spade a spade. The only positions I have espoused in this thread are that, first, evidence should be provided to back up a claim, and second, that the European Union is a democratically elected governmental body that is not run by any one nation. If you find those position to be socialist, well, we already knew you didn't know what socialism actually is.

(01-09-2018, 03:16 PM)StLucieBengal Wrote: How about this ..... is the EU a good thing if it’s ran by (like it is now by Germany) Poland and Hungry? It’s a pretty safe bet that something isn’t good if you are afraid of anyone other than “your guys” being in control. The USA works because we don’t fear any party or Group getting control. Does he EU work if it’s led by Poland and Hungry? Or Italy potentially under the control of the 5 star.

The European Union is a governmental system that is run through the democratic process. No one country has control of it. No two countries have control of it. But hey, facts have never gotten in your way of being wrong, before. Why stop now?

[StLucieBengal]

(01-09-2018, 05:02 PM)Belsnickel Wrote: I didn't say your positions came from them, just described who the experts are whose opinions your provide. Don't be unhappy with me for calling a spade a spade. The only positions I have espoused in this thread are that, first, evidence should be provided to back up a claim, and second, that the European Union is a democratically elected governmental body that is not run by any one nation. If you find those position to be socialist, well, we already knew you didn't know what socialism actually is.


The European Union is a governmental system that is run through the democratic process. No one country has control of it. No two countries have control of it. But hey, facts have never gotten in your way of being wrong, before. Why stop now?

Well when you send more MEP and have more Germans in key positions coupled with the most votes that’s a pretty good cocktail to show control.

Quote:Germany sends the most members of parliament to the EU Parliament (currently 96 out of a total of 751 members). In the Council, too, Germany has the most votes (together with France, Great Britain, and Italy), namely 29. It also has a lot of influence in the Commission. According to a report from the Süddeutsche Zeitung, Germans hold more key positions in the European Commission than any other European country.

This is in German so you and Hollo will probably be the only other ones able to read this so I won’t quote it.

http://www.sueddeutsche.de/politik/eu-deutschland-baut-seine-macht-in-bruessel-aus-1.2588651

[hollodero]

(01-09-2018, 03:07 PM)StLucieBengal Wrote: Forgive for not remembering, but aren’t you the Austrian guy?  I confuse you with the French guy I think, unless your the French guy that I am confusing with the Austrian guy.  

Going to assume your the Austrian guy until you correct me.  

What do you have to say about the position your country is likely taking in regards to Europe.  

https://voiceofeurope.com/2017/12/austrias-next-chancellor-is-following-the-footsteps-of-hungarian-pm-viktor-orban/

I can post the links to Orban’s recent Declarations with Poland if you need me.

Yeah it's quite a bad start to an article when the first line states "the left hates leaders who preserve their culture and protect their citizens". Some bias might be unavoidable to most publications, but this is an insiduous claim against people who have other ideas how to achieve the goals laid out.

Also, we do not need soldiers at our Christmas markets. That is utter nonsense. Unspeakable nonsense. Sure a terrorist attack is among the realm of possibilities, as are other kinds of rampages, but there's no justification to react to that with sending the troops to our cities. No politician, no matter how right-wing and anti-islamic, would ever be able to favor such a move without massive backlash in this western country of mine.

That the leader of our liberal party (do not mistake them for US liberals) would speak against our conservative chancellor is not a surprise, I agree halfway with him. I do not like my current government and think they got it all wrong. That being said, our constitution will safeguard against authoritarian tendencies that as of yet didn't really shine through. Hungary certainly isn't a model most Austrians would want to follow in any major respect. Their economy is considerably smaller than ours, people are worse off, and the free press is considerably hindered. That sure cannot and will not be our future model.
That we will pursue a way stricter immigration policy is quite certain. Which I am not in favor of (I'd rather vet refugees for being able and willing to adapt, which does not really happen as of now), but ok that's what our latest elections seemed to demand, so ok that's democracy. Since the right with 99% certainty will dissolve itself again, it probably won't be lasting.

AS for the European context in general, we won't do an "Öxit" or roadblock the process of Europe growing together. Believe it or not, we're also benefitting from the EU and the resonable members of our current government know that and say so.

Also, you did not answer a single one of my questions, which is rather unfortunate. Makes me believe what you actually have to say considerably lacks substance and are mere talking points thrown out without much additional thought. But then again, I sure am "too close".

[StLucieBengal]

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/world/2013/mar/31/is-germany-too-powerful-for-europe

More

Quote:Is Germany too powerful for Europe?
Twenty years ago, Germany's economy was stagnating. Today, as the eurozone crisis deepens, this giant is keeping Europe afloat. But what does it want in return? Stuart Jeffries talks to German sociologist Ulrich Beck, who believes that his country has become a political monster
Anti-German feeling . . . an employee of Cyprus Popular Bank at a protest last month.

Stuart Jeffries
Sun 31 Mar ‘13 14.00 EDT First published on Sun 31 Mar ‘13 14.00 EDT

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In his novel Fatherland, Robert Harris envisaged a hellish scenario – Hitler won the second world war. Decades later, the Greater German Reich extends from the Rhine to the Caspian Sea. The rest of Europe, though notionally consisting of independent states, is really under the Nazi jackboot.

Sound familiar? Of course not. That nightmare never came to pass. Happily, Germany does not rule Europe. Or does it? Munich-based sociologist Ulrich Beck argues in his new book that the eurozone catastrophe has given birth to a political monster: a German Europe. When, on 1 July this year, Croatia becomes a member, the European Union will contain 500 million people and be the largest market and trading bloc in the world.


"The new German power in Europe is not based as in former times on force," writes Beck in German Europe. Which is a consolation. "It has no need of weapons to impose its will on other states," he says. "It has no need to invade, and yet is ubiquitous."

His homeland's latest iron chancellor Angela Merkel rules Europe, imposing German values on feebler client nations, bailing out southern Europeans with their oversized public sectors, rampant tax evasion and long lunches. "In the countries most harshly affected by the crisis, many people think they are losers because the austerity policy pursued jointly by Berlin and Brussels deprives them of their means of livelihood – and also of their human dignity," argues Beck.

Other Germans, naturally, don't see it quite that way. The official line from the German embassy in London is that Germany is helping other European economies to become globally competitive and more able to take on emerging markets. "Germany was among the first to have started this endeavour and therefore might temporarily be a little ahead of others," says spokesman Norman Walter. "Our main political drive over the last few years has been to increase competitiveness in all eurozone and EU member states."


To get a different perspective on German domination of Europe, I consult a standup comic: Henning Wehn, a German comedian who is tired of being called an oxymoron by Britons, and is in the middle of a UK tour. The blurb for his show goes: "According to Henning, there's no shortcut to success, hard work will eventually pay off and there is no shame in paying tax." How this transmutes into comedy is anybody's guess, but it seems to suggest that Wehn believes slacker Europe needs a German economics lesson. "Well, economically Germany is mainly dominant because it is the country with most people," says Wehn. "It also has several things that explain its economic success and from which others can learn – our system of apprenticeships, our building societies that help entrepreneurs. When David Cameron spoke about strivers and skivers, that reminded me of a Swabian saying: 'Schaffe, schaffe, Häusle baue!' It means: "Work, work, build your little house!' That sort of striving is deep in German identity."

Economic powerhouse … Frankfurt’s financial district, where the ECB’s HQ is located.
Economic powerhouse … Frankfurt’s financial district, where the ECB’s HQ is located. Photograph: Odd Andersen
The worry is that Germany thinks of itself as a nation of strivers bankrolling a continent of skivers. "German money [is being] thrown away on the bankrupt Greeks," ran a headline in the tabloid Bild, while Focus magazine had a cover image of the Venus de Milo giving the finger to the world. "If Ireland and Greece sank into the sea tomorrow, Germany would be quietly relieved," says Simon Winder, publishing director at Penguin and author of Germania: A Personal History of Germans Ancient and Modern. "Germany today reminds me of the British Empire, burdened with non-lucrative colonies that it has to defend when all it's really bothered about is India. The problem for Germany is that it has no India just, as it were, lots of Sierra Leones."


The latest euro crisis over Cyprus bears out Beck's analysis. According to Newsnight's Paul Mason, the Germans want to "avoid creating a moral hazard, rewarding a country that has sold itself as a rule-free playground for Russians who want to keep their money". For German politicians, and not just those of Merkel's ruling Christian Democratic Union, that irresponsible nonsense can't go on for ever: it's time for Cyprus to wake up and smell the austerity. Beck argues that Germany is teaching Cyprus a moral lesson, namely that, as he puts it: "Suffering purifies. The road through hell, the road through austerity, leads to the heaven of economic recovery." It's a very German lesson, borne of the philosophies of Martin Luther and Max Weber and based on the protestant work ethic. That doesn't play too well in Nicosia: hence all those "Merkel – Kaput" banners waved by soon-to-be redundant employees of Cyprus's Popular Bank.

But what are the Germans getting out of teaching allegedly slacker Europeans how to run their economies? For Beck, Germany's European dominance has given the nation a new sense of identity after decades of Nazi guilt, and provides liberation from what he calls the "never again syndrome" – never again a Holocaust, never again fascism, never again militarism. After the second world war and the Holocaust, he argues, Germany was in ruins morally and economically. Now, in both senses, it is back.


The origins of German economic dominance predate our current crisis. More than 20 years ago, Germany made a sacrifice for Europe at Maastricht when it agreed to put the deutschmark to the sword so that another currency could be born. "The tragedy for the Germans is that they viewed the euro as their great, healing gift to the rest of Europe, an act of self-denial in which they cashed in their totemic deutschmark for the continent's greater good," says Winder. Since the fall of Hitler, it has been Germany's self-imposed obligation to help build a Europe where the petty nationalisms that had ruined the continent in two world wars could be definitively overcome.

The prudent housewife … Angela Merkel sits before an EU flag on a visit to a Berlin school, 2011.
The prudent housewife … Angela Merkel sits before an EU flag on a visit to a Berlin school, 2011. Photograph: Sean Gallup
It's all about Vergangenheitsbewältigung, which means (roughly) the struggle to come to terms with the past – and, in particular, a Nazi past. (Maybe Britain will some time undergo its own Vergangenheitsbewältigung for its imperial shame, but that's another story.) "The Germans no longer wish to be thought of as racists and warmongers," Beck says. "They would prefer to become the schoolmasters and moral enlighteners of Europe." It's a moot question whether the rest of Europe wants to be on the receiving end of German enlightenment. "Germany's chorus of I-want-to-teach-the-world-to-sing doesn't play too well in Tring or Extramadura," says Winder.


But that's the Teutonic song: two decades ago, Germany after reunification was once as Greece is today, with a stagnating economy and five million unemployed. But, thanks to neoliberal austerity and taking on the Protestant notion that "suffering purifies", the Germans were able to realise a jobs miracle. Now, Beck argues, German reunification is being used as the template for German crisis management in Europe. As head of the continent's strongest economic power, Merkel is in a position to dictate the terms under which struggling eurozone nations can apply for further credit, eroding the democratic autonomy of the Greek, Italian and Spanish parliaments. Beck calls her Merkiavelli – after Machiavelli – to highlight the political nous with which she has run rings around other leaders.

He suggests that she is the uncrowned queen of Europe. Queen Merkiavelli the First of Europe, perhaps, demands that Germany's new colonies save in the interests of stability – a formula based on the good housekeeping practices of a woman who sometimes casts herself as a sensible Swabian housewife. Beck's chancellor sounds like Margaret Thatcher, who also prudently approached the balancing of government accounts as though they were a household budget. "There is one important difference," Beck says. "Thatcher was doing to Britain something the British electorate had voted for. What Merkel is doing to Europe has no democratic mandate."


Viewed thus, Germans are power-crazed anti-democrats using economic crisis to stage a furtive putsch on a supine continent. Aren't we witnessing a German power grab? "Heavens, no. They have no imperial bone left in their body," argues Winder. "They are colonists, but incredibly reluctant ones. There is no smoke-filled room filled with sausage-eating Germans who want to dominate Europe. There is no conspiracy."

"I think that's an incredibly silly point to make," says Wehn. "German dominance in Europe is not anti-democratic. There are parts of Europe that are economically ahead of other parts. It's just the same in Britain: London is economically ahead of the north-east of England. So should London leave sterling? That's obviously a silly answer. The same is true in Europe. There are fishing villages in Greece that are going to be economically negligible, while Germany is dominant. Does that mean we should leave the euro? No! A strong Europe needs a strong Germany."

Cultural export … German comedian Henning Wehn.
Cultural export … German comedian Henning Wehn.
There is, though, a paradox in Germany's European domination. It is economically supreme, but culturally negligible. Some of us are enjoying the Wagner bicentenary, but it can hardly be argued that his music indicates the virility of German cultural exports in the new millennium. Nobody is wearing lederhosen in Glasgow or Warsaw. Next to nobody is learning German as a foreign language. Your next box set might well be in Danish but nobody's will be in German. Fatih Akin, Christian Petzold, Hans-Christian Schmid and Ulrich Köhler have one thing in common: few have heard of these alleged icons of German new wave cinema outside Germany. Yes, the Tate's website did crash briefly when it was announced that tickets were available for the Kraftwerk gig at the Turbine Hall, but that's the exception that proves the rule.


"They're living on empty, culturally," says Winder. "There's no German novel I'm looking forward to, and no German film. But it's the same throughout Europe. Europe is culturally null. Britain is the cultural dynamo of Europe by a million miles."

Why is Germany failing to export its cultural goods with the success of, say, its car, machine tool or optics industries? "There's one simple reason," replies Wehn. "Bismarck didn't believe in colonies." What Wehn means by that is that the 19th-century German chancellor, who presided over a vast and recently unified people, decided not to emulate Britain, Spain and France in their imperial land grabs. As a result, German never became a global language; English became the world's most widely spoken tongue. "The English language is dominant because of Hollywood and that helps British culture," says Wehn. In a recent survey by Monocle magazine, Britain was found to be the world's leader in what's called "soft power" – a country's ability to make friends and influence people not through military might but through culture, education, language and values. "In short, the things that make people love us rather than fear us," says John Worne, the British council's director of strategy.

Germany, by contrast, is feared for its economic dominance. At the same time it seems culturally insular. What a shame we don't get more German culture here. After all, the British and Germans are, one world cup and two world wars notwithstanding, simpatico. Germanophile 19th-century historian Thomas Carlyle wrote of Germany "speaking the same old Saxon tongue and thinking in the same old Saxon spirit with ourselves", while George Orwell wrote that during the first world war "the English working class were in contact with foreigners to an extent that is rarely possible. The sole result was that they brought back a hatred of all Europeans, except the Germans, whose courage they admired."


Norman Walter at the German embassy argues that the case for his homeland's cultural nullity is weak. "Well, we're not exactly world champions – but we aren't that bad either." Ingeniously, he quotes back at me a string of Guardian arts stories that seem to suggest German culture thrives here. Last year's gig by heavy-metal band Rammstein in 2012 sold out within minutes and Dave Simpson's five-star review described it as "the rock show of the year". Judith Mackrell argued that Tanztheater Wuppertal's London retrospective World Cities was "revelatory". Similarly, the Economist noted that "British enthusiasm for modern German culture is quietly growing" and that "a new breed of artists is changing British tastes in German culture". And today there's Kurt Schwitters at Tate Britain, Rosemarie Trockel at the Serpentine Gallery. Nobody even mentions the great German art on show at the Northern Renaissance exhibition at the Queen's Gallery, but they really should.

Yes, but visual art and music are the most readily exportable cultural products. Hardly any German literature makes it into the bestseller lists here. In Germany now, the bestseller lists are dominated by Timur Vermes's novel Er is wieder da (He's back), which is about Hitler. The führer awakes in Berlin in the summer of 2011, having fallen asleep in 1945. Hitler becomes a media celebrity before entering politics where he campaigns against dog muck and speeding. The book has sold more than 400,000 copies in Germany, but is as yet untranslated here. A shame: it's a popular account of German Vergangenheitsbewältigung that deserves to be read in Britain. Maybe more Britons should learn German.

And what about German TV? Why, I ask Wehn, are there no German TV series filling BBC4's 9pm Saturday night Euro-drama subtitle-a-rama slot? He contends that we aren't missing much, apart from a cop show called Derrick, which finished broadcasting 15 years ago. But why is there no German rival to Denmark's The Killing, Sweden's Wallander, Italy's Inspector Montalbano or France's Spiral? "In Germany there's no incentive to sell TV content abroad. The BBC makes a lot of money from selling foreign rights, which explains why so much of its content is shown overseas. In Germany, the contracts aren't like that – and the domestic market is huge so there's no incentive."

What does a German Europe mean for the economically bumbling yet allegedly cultural dynamic Britain? "It is drifting into irrelevance," replies Beck. "There is already a two-speed Europe, with a pioneer Europe in the eurozone that the rest of Europe, especially Britain, doesn't really take part in decisions about. Cameron doesn't realise there's a shifting power base in Europe but instead focuses on withdrawal from Europe." Folly, he argues. "Europe isn't across the Channel. For the first time every European citizen existentially depends on Europe." But that too is a German perspective: Britons have rarely gone for continental things such as existentialism, still less a cosmopolitan transcontinental menage.

Unsurprisingly, as a good German committed to the end of petty nationalisms, Beck counsels more powers to the European Union to bring the undemocratic reign of Queen Merkiavelli to an end. In the past, budgetary credits were tied to austerity and neo-liberal reform: in the future, Beck argues, they should be linked to a readiness to support a new, continent-wide social contract set up to defend job security, extend freedom and promote democracy.

Good luck with all that, Professor, I say. "It may well sound hopelessly utopian and naive," he replies, "but why not be utopian and naive? Look at the alternative." Maybe only Germans, thanks to the darkness of their 20th-century past, have such sunny hopes for this benighted continent. It's a different kind of German Europe from the one Beck indicts and one that nobody need fear: not one premised on Teutonic austerity, but filled with a European idealism you get hardly anywhere else on this cynical continent, least of all in Britain.