German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday responded to growing criticism of euro-zone bailouts from within her Christian Democratic Union party with a passionate call for Germany to shoulder the burden of saving Europe's most ambitious project and to step up to the challenges of these uncertain times.
During a party convention in the eastern German city of Leipzig, where in 2003 Ms. Merkel made a pledge to return Germany to its role as Europe's undisputed economic leader within a decade, the chancellor rebuffed accusations she had abandoned the conservative party's long-standing positions on core issues—from social policies to nuclear energy and now minimum wages and euro-zone bailouts.
"We live in times of epic change," Ms. Merkel said. "Our political compass has not changed. But the context is constantly changing."
Some party members called for Ms. Merkel to make it possible to boot profligate euro-zone nations out of the 17-member club. Ms. Merkel told her party that 30-year-old policies couldn't supply the appropriate answer to Europe's "most difficult hours since World War Two." She insisted that the party must go with the times.
In a one-hour speech at the two-day convention that is being held under the motto "For Europe, For Germany," Ms. Merkel pounded the themes that have become a steady drumbeat in her daily messages back in Berlin about resolving the euro-zone debt crisis: that the euro crisis will take years of hard work to fix and that the crisis offers the opportunity to recreate the European project.
"We need to send a clear signal," Ms. Merkel told the delegates. "We don't whine; we don't complain. We know instead that we have a job to do."
Recently, Ms. Merkel has begun framing the euro-zone debt crisis as her generation's opportunity to take a huge step forward with the European project. In Leipzig, she touched on this theme again, saying Europe must have the courage to change the treaty underlying European monetary union treaty and allow tough, automatic sanctions for violations of the treaty. Through the crisis, Europe is growing closer together and Europeans are discovering that decisions taken in one country can have enormous impact on the rest of Europe, she said.
Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble lent his voice to Ms. Merkel's appeal. "We now need to build the political union [in Europe] we never managed to build in the '90s," Mr. Schäuble said in a rousing speech to tumultuous applause.
Some angry delegates disagreed with Ms. Merkel's willingness to shoulder the burdens of other European countries.
Klaus-Peter Willsch, a member of parliament, accused the government of breaking a vow not to bail out Europe's transgressors.
"We promised Germans when we gave up the [Deutschmark] for the euro that we wouldn't pay for the debts of other nations--no bailouts. This promise has been broken. We are doing exactly the opposite," he said.
Ms. Merkel ruled out any introduction of so-called euro-zone bonds that would result in making the European community as a whole responsible for the debts of others. And she insisted that Europe and other regions of the world must put their finances on a sustainable footing.
"Everywhere we look we find behavior that cannot go on for long," Ms. Merkel said. "Everywhere people are living as though there is no tomorrow."
While many delegates have reservations about the resources that Germany is committing to fight the euro crisis, many also support Ms. Merkel's strategy.
"Merkel recognized that Europe is in a difficult situation, but at the same time clearly and competently laid out the CDU's role in leading Germany through the European crisis," said Erika Stahl, a long-time CDU member from Bochum in the Germany's Ruhr Valley.
Beyond Germany's borders, said Wilfried Martens, chairman of the conservative European People's Party in the European parliament, all eyes are on Berlin.
"Europe is looking to Germany," Mr. Martens said. "The world is looking to Germany. The key to solving the euro crisis lies in Germany."
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