'Shut it' - Europe's new tone

Jean Luc Melenchon, the leader of France's Left Party, is well known for his coarse tone. But he reached a new level of insolence with his recent tweet "Shut it, Frau Merkel." The politician also exhorted the German chancellor to turn her attention to the poor in her own country and to its ruined infrastructure.

It's presumably all the same to Angela Merkel if some European parliamentarian and head of a minor party mouths off just because she pointed out that France's reforms still have a long way to go. However, the tetchy reaction from French Finance Minister Michel Sapin on the same subject carries rather more political weight. The reforms are being implemented for France, "and not to please this or that European politician," he said, adding that Germany had problems of its own, such as bad roads and a low birthrate. "The number of German nationals is falling every year, which is why in ten or twenty years we in France will be in a better position," Sapin continued. As if there were a direct correlation between fertility and economic success.

France's lack of diplomatic finesse

What is astonishing is the unusually rude, populist tone of the French comments. When caricatures of Angela Merkel with a Hitler moustache appeared in Greek newspapers at the height of the financial crisis, Berlin turned a blind eye. The demands being made of Greece under the austerity policy were heavy: It was understandable if feelings ran high.

But when Paris overreacts in such a way - and in the person of its finance minister - to a passing remark by the chancellor, it could indicate a more fundamental change of mood in the relationship between France and Germany. After all, Paris is not being asked to do away with its social security system and allow its citizens to starve: it is simply a question of a few moderate reforms to the labor market and bringing expenditure and revenue into line with European rules.

New anti-German feeling in Paris?

Nobody likes being told off by their neighbors - but it seems that the French are unwilling, on principle, to accept any criticism whatsoever from Berlin, however cautious. Yet they know well enough that their labor market is sclerotic and inflexible and their economy is being strangled by excessive taxation and over-regulation.

Problems like these can and must be discussed in Europe - with the necessary diplomacy - because when we decided to create the euro together, we also accepted joint responsibility for it. France, incidentally, was very much a driving force in this. Just as our French neighbors were far from restrained in their criticism ten years ago when Germany itself was one of the EU's debt transgressor, and German Finance Minister Hans Eichel was reduced to keeping his head down around Brussels. Back then Germany was dubbed the "sick man of Europe," and Berlin's attempts at explanation were showered with ridicule. Now the roles are reversed, and Paris is playing the national card - as is Rome, though with slightly less drama - according to the motto: Everyone should concentrate on putting their own house in order.

Interfering is part of what the EU is about

But this is completely missing the point of a politically and financially interconnected Europe. All the capitals are collectively responsible for the mistakes of each - especially when it comes to aid packages and European Central Bank policy. So essentially it could be said that they have a duty to speak their minds, as cordially as possible, when their neighbors violate European rules - although obviously where this is concerned it's not what you say, just how you say it.

What is more disturbing in France are these strange nationalistic outbursts. One expects nothing else from the far right and the Front National. But do even the Socialists now think they might motivate their voters with anti-German remarks? Are the old cliches still so close to the surface that the regulars in a provincial bar would respond with enthusiasm?

If this is the case, then the situation for Europe is worse than we realized. We are used to harassing fire from Britain, but if Paris and Berlin can no longer deal sensibly with one another and profess solidarity, things are getting perilous. The governments in all the European capitals are also performing to their own public. But in doing so they should bear in mind that at the next summit meeting they will all be sitting around the same table and demanding solidarity from their neighbors.