Martin Scicluna’s article Eurogeddon – a busted flush refers to an article entitled The Merkel Memorandum (The Economist, 11 August 2012). This has now been followed by a letter from Karl-Heinz Paque, Former State Minister of Finance of Saxony-Anhalt that appeared in The Economist of 25 August in response to The Merkel Memorandum.

Paque states fairly unequivocally that the cost-benefit analysis concerning the exit of countries from the eurozone focused exclusively on the economic risks (which are great) and misses the political effect of such a break up. He asks us to consider what it would be like for Germany to “ become the driving force in pushing… a few poorly performing European nations into second-class status, demanding from them the humiliating exercise of introducing their own weak currencies with massive capital and mobility controls”.

People of my generation were born into a deeply divided Europe, one half living under a state-controlled hegemony, the likes of which nobody wants to see again. It therefore stands to reason to ask: what sort of consequences such a ‘re-dividing’ of Europe would have if those European states were made to downgrade? The bitterness and resentment would be palpable for a long time into the future. Although the euro crisis cannot be denied, the consideration put forward in The Merkel Memorandum: Eurogeddon Plan B – the wider, deliberate exit, or rather excision, from the eurozone of those countries that “have failed the euro test... those already rescued or requesting bailouts” cannot be considered unless, of course, the idea of Europe is going to shelved indefinitely.

Madeleine Gera